Trying divorce without a lawyer? Read this!

If you want the most affordable uncontested divorce possible, you might think about doing it without a lawyer. However, is an uncontested divorce lawyer who represents people for a flat fee, I can tell you that’s a bad idea. If you want a fast and affordable uncontested divorce in Illinois, then using a lawyer is your best bet.

Sometimes, you don’t know what you don’t know. And that’s most often the case with divorce. This article is about the benefits of hiring a lawyer for an uncontested divorce in Illinois.

Legal questions answered

Let’s compare using a lawyer to not using a lawyer for your divorce.

One way you could potentially get divorced is by going to the court, and getting some forms to fill out.

Another way is to use some divorce website, one that quite possibly is owned by a foreign entity, and answer some questions online to get the website to spit out the forms that they guarantee it will be accepted by the court.

Unfortunately, neither of those two ways of getting the paperwork you need to get divorced can offer you legal advice. In fact, I talked to many people who have tried getting divorced without a lawyer, and they found that it’s not working out for them.

Getting divorce isn’t about filling out some forms and making the marriage end without having to talk with a lawyer. It’s about ending your marriage or terms that are good for you, and which you actually understand.

Sometimes, people contact me after they think they have drafted a marital settlement agreement and they say they just want someone to file the paperwork with the court.

When I review the marital settlement agreement prepared without a lawyer, I find without fail that has serious flaws. People are surprised to learn of the unintended consequences and omissions.

Dealing with proper procedure

Divorce isn’t simply about filling out paperwork and showing up in court. There is a procedure that must be followed. If the proper procedure is not followed, you will not get divorced.

Every day in court, I see people going to court trying to get divorced with internet-produced paperwork. They are often sent home because they didn’t follow the proper procedure.

As a lawyer, I know the procedure and my goal is to help you get the divorce done quickly.

People who don’t follow the proper procedure find that they waste a lot of time going to and from court for no reason.

Preparing for the future

Divorce isn’t just about ending a marriage. It’s about preparing for the future.

Divorce by the agreement involves the execution of a marital settlement agreement. That’s the document that deals with all of the financial issues including division of marital property, division of marital debt, what to do with certain property such as real estate, child support, paying for health insurance, and more.

And people with kids will need to execute a parenting agreement that address is education, healthcare, extracurricular activities, religion, parenting time, and other issues.

The terms of both agreements can have fairly far-reaching implications.

As a lawyer who handles many uncontested divorces each year, I can help you gain foresight into what problems might occur. That will help you avoid them in the future.

If people want to fight after getting divorced, there’s no way to completely prevent that from happening. However, using a lawyer for a flat fee divorce in Illinois and go a long way to minimizing the amount of problems that occur in the future.