Maybe you finally filed the divorce papers (form FL-100 as they call it here in California). How hard was the decision? How long did it take you? How many sleepless nights?
How many people did you to talk to? How many lawyers did you consult? How many times did you repeat the same conversation over and over with your best friend? Should you stay or should you go?
How often did you start working on the legal forms? How many times did you stop? How many late Saturday nights did you swear to your friends, “This is it, I’m going to be the first one in line at the court on Monday morning and I’m personally filing this f**ing form.” How many times did you not follow through?
In all those conversations, all the false starts, all the anxiety, did you give thought to how you wanted the divorce to proceed?
If you are like most, it was overwhelming enough just making the commitment to enter into an unknown world and future. After all, what do you know about the divorce process. How could you possibly plan?
I don’t want to take anything away from you for all the emotional strength it took to make such an incredibly difficult, life changing decision. But what comes after you file the dissolution petition, however, is what’s going to shape the next chapters of your life.
In the articles and emails on this site, I want to start talking about how to plan out your divorce. There are as many ways to go about it as there are people getting divorced and lawyers advising them, but at the end of the day, this is your life.
And for those of you who haven’t yet filed form FL-100, I think if you give some thought to how you want the divorce to proceed then you gain a lot more confidence to get started.
How you live the next few chapters will have a lot to do with how you finish this chapter of your life.
Through these articles I plan to introduce you to different ways you can navigate through critical steps in your divorce case—beyond the legal options (like mediation and collaborative)—by introducing you to for our five different families.
Along the way, we’ll get into both the legal, family dynamics, and psychological aspects of divorce, with a heavy California bias.
Attorney advertising. Michael Rice is the attorney responsible for its content. 565 Pier Avenue, #1481, Hermosa Beach, California 9054.