Marriage is one of the oldest institutions in the entire world, and traditionally, it is designed to unite a man and woman into a single household that can bear children. This is true today, and marriage has been expanded in some parts of the world to include same-sex households who typically adopt children. Divorce, meanwhile, is the legal end to a marriage, and in the United States today, the divorce rate is close to 50%. Many different reasons may cause a divorce, and during this proceeding, one or both spouses may look for legal assistance such as divorce lawyers who help them file divorce forms, as well as child custody lawyers if need be. Messy divorces may call for these lawyers, though others are more minor and may only call for arbitrators or counselors to help smooth out the process. Some high-end professionals may face divorce due to their demanding jobs interfering with the marriage, such as in the case of divorce for physicians or other doctors. Divorces for physicians may involve a lot of money.
Why Divorce Happens
There are a number of reasons why a married couple might divorce today, and some of those reasons are more dramatic than others. In some cases, a spouse may feel that their other spouse is far too absorbed in their career and that there’s a gulf between them, such as during a divorce for physicians or the like. But it’s not just a divorce for physicians; infidelity may strike, and this in fact ranks as the most common confirmed reason for divorces today. Studies and surveys are done to measure how and why divorce happens, and infidelity comes up often, when one spouse is unfaithful to the other. Both men and women do this, but sometimes for different reasons.
Meanwhile, a divorce may take place if one or both spouses is abusing drugs or alcohol, which may result in violent behavior, personality changes, committing crimes to fund that drug habit, and financial strain. An abuser of drugs or alcohol may lose their job and spend all of their money on that habit. Less dramatic, but no less valid reasons for divorce also exist, such as if both partners realize that they do not have much personal compatibility and have different lifestyles and spending habits in mind. Studies suggest that couples who date for three or more years before marrying have much lower odds of divorce than a couple who got engaged soon after they started dating.
Handing a Divorce
When one spouse decides that they should divorce their other spouse, they may turn to any and all legal assistance required. In the case of milder divorces, such as one with minimal property involved and no children, an arbitrator or mediator may be used. This may be a good option if the divorce is relatively drama-free, as opposed to a divorce started due to drug use or violent abuse. In this case, a mediator may simply help both spouses come up with productive and fair ideas for the divorce and how to divide assets and who will live where. Lawyers may not be needed at all for these low-intensity divorces. Such divorces may often be those prompted by a simple lack of compatibility on some level.
Meanwhile, a marriage that involves a lot of property and money, and children under 18 years old, may be much messier and require the assistance of divorce attorneys. A divorce for physicians or other high-end professionals, for example, may involve a spouse hiring an equally high-end lawyer since many assets may be involved in the terminated marriage. A spouse may even move to a private, safe alternate residence if the other spouse is abusing drugs or alcohol or if they are violent or verbally abusive. During such a divorce, a spouse may relocate themselves and their under-18 children to that private residence and only interact with the other spouse through their lawyers. The other spouse, in response, may hire their own legal defense, and both spouses will negotiate the terms of the divorce through their respective lawyers. In the case of child custody, that may be hotly contested. Children aged 12 and over may speak privately with the judge about their preferences on where to live after the divorce.
