Divorce is always painful for both men and women. There is no clear divide on whether there are more divorces initiated by men or by women. However, many lawyers find these mistakes that men usually make when they receive the divorce petition.
Taking the Men’s Club Advice
There is a tendency for men to brush off the divorce or take the petitions lightly. When they do this, they may start the proceeding unprepared and without a concrete plan of action. In contrast, the petitioner (wife) is prepared, with proper advice from her lawyers even before they filed for divorce.
Other men tend to be dismissive of women’s grievances. This is possibly one of the reasons divorce was filed in the first place. They think that divorce can just be a minor inconvenience. What they should know is that crucial points like child custody and property division all depend on the case that you are presenting.
If you don’t fight for your rights in divorce, the other party can overwhelm you and leave you without visitation rights and property. This is a serious proceeding and the stakes are high. You should get the best legal representation that you can afford.
Disregarding the Time Period
Corollary to the point above, men tend to delay action and even disregard the actual petition. The petition will continue even if you deny it. It will not just go away, and if you show that you are disinterested, there are serious consequences.
The Original Petition for Divorce states the conditions that the petitioner wants the court to implement. In this case, silence means “yes.” If you do not respond at all, the judge will simply render a default judgment. Seeing as there was no dispute from your side, this judgment will most likely be in favor of the petitioner.
If you have been properly served and you did not respond, your soon-to-be ex-wife will get a signed divorce decree, and you would not be able to dispute any detail or any condition, whether it be child support, custody, or property division.
If the petitioner has unreasonable requests, or if the basis for child support is erroneous, which pegs the amount that you have to pay higher than you can afford, you will have to accept that.
The divorce court is your one chance to negotiate and state your own side of the story. If you do not participate, you lose that chance to be heard.
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