Is Your Divorce Important to You?

You need to make your divorce, and all of its issues most important to you, inclusive of child custody, visitation and financial issues such as spousal and/or child support and equitable distribution.  When your lawyer asks you for information and or documentation, you need to show your case is a priority to you and respond timely.  If your lawyer has to chase you down for information and/or documents he or she needs to properly represent you, it tells your lawyer that you do not really care, so why should he or she? By not getting done for court what needs to be done, the judge thinks you do not care as well.  Then you are really in a hole.

It is essential that you be Johnny or Joanie on the spot.  Show your lawyer that your divorce and its child custody, visitation, spousal/child support and other financial issues are of the utmost importance to you.  This will help the court to see that you do what you are supposed so you cannot be as bad as your spouse says.  This tells your lawyer that his or her efforts on your behalf are not wasted on you.  The idea is to move the case toward resolution and this cannot be done without your help and assistance when needed.

I truly hate when a client asks how much longer his or her case will take and my only reply is: Well, you have not yet complied with documents production nor provided with information requested so we cannot even get to the next step.  If you keep not doing what you need to do, then maybe the case will never end or you will be defaulted and you will only have yourself to blame. It is at this point, if not sooner, that I tell my client, either cooperate and make your case your priority more than it is for me, or find another lawyer.