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Pre-Filing Homework

Doing Your Pre-Filing Homework Saves You Money and Stress

Getting a divorce is like a game of chess. If you know the game better than your opponent and are prepared to think ahead, you will probably win.

Divorce is a complicated process, both legally and emotionally. It requires strength, perseverance, and hard work. With focused planning, however, you can make the process smoother. If the time has come to leave your spouse, you need a solid exit plan. More than fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce, and those who don't plan are hardest hit as a result.

Pre-divorce planning, otherwise known as "pre-filing homework," is not about taking your spouse for all that you can. It's about making wise decisions with a clear mind. The cardinal rule for winning in court, which applies not only to sports but also in careers, and all other endeavors, including your divorce or custody battle, is practicing, drilling, and rehearsing the best practices that our attorneys have found over the past 40+ years. Only after mastering basic fundamentals of a sport can you expect to participate in a game situation and develop a strategy.

In any sporting event – whether it be baseball, basketball, football, tennis, or even golf – winning requires you to practice the basic fundamentals repeatedly. You need to react instinctively to situations without having to think through complicated options just like professional athletes do when it comes time to compete in the game.

Practicing the fundamentals is monotonous, time consuming, and hard work, but the price one pays to win. Non-stop practicing pays off for athletes when he or she knows exactly how to react in a given situation. Similarly, if you train yourself to respond similarly in the pre-filing stage, you'll prevail before the case even begins.

If you have decided to divorce, and you are in the early stages, begin our "best practices" now:

  • Interview, and then hire, an experienced and aggressive attorney to represent you.
  • Safeguard your money. Open accounts in your own name, close your joint accounts, stash your important personal property, and identify sources of cash. Whether you suspect it or not, if your divorce ends-up a knock-down, drag-out fight you will need additional financial resources in order to not create financial harm for yourself or your children.
  • Get a post office box. You're well-advised to get one in a neighboring town that is a convenient distance from home or work. Use your new mailing address on everything related to your divorce.
  • Get your own cell phone and e-mail account. Arrange these with companies that your spouse does not use.
  • Make copies of important documents. Initially, you'll need recent bank statements, tax returns, home mortgage statements, and any documents related to a targeted matter revolving around your court case.
  • Change passwords for ATM cards, home security systems, voice mailboxes, online access to bank accounts, e-mail accounts and online sites you shop on.
  • Use your best efforts to file first on your Complaint for Divorce. Make it your case. You put yourself in the driver's seat. By filing first, you will give yourself an emergency exit – a parachute – in case things go wrong.
  • Another benefit to filing first is that you will establish a clear mark in time that the court may use as the point of "irretrievable breakdown." This date will be critical if you fear that your spouse may try to hide or transfer assets to defeat your claims or deny you your fair share. It also could save you from debt that your spouse may recklessly run up.

We Wrote the Book on Massachusetts Divorce Strategy …and We Keep Rewriting It!

Our "best practices" and trial notebooks are winning formulas – the best discovery and courtroom techniques in dozens of different domestic relations and divorce scenarios. Each time we work on a case, we update our book. When we are not advocating for clients in court, we study and create ways to prevail in future cases. For a FREE, no-obligation consultation with any of our attorneys, call (800) 763-1030 or e-mail us.

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