When you DO, and When You DON’T Need a Yerington Lawyer for Divorce
Most divorces are messy. When you are in love with someone, and the relationship eventually comes to a point that divorce is on the table, it’s extremely difficult to come back from that. You can go to therapy, couple’s retreats, and other therapeutic exercises, but often try as you might the damage that has been done to get to that point is very hard to undo. That’s not to say that it’s never been undone, it has. If the relationship between you and your spouse can be fixed, then it will be stronger than ever having survived dark times.
If there is in fact no coming back, it is always helpful to know whether or not you really need a Yerington lawyer for the divorce or not. There are situations where a divorce attorney is not always needed. In rare situations you and your spouse can facilitate the divorce yourselves. Here at Justice Law Center, we have put together some information so the residents of Yerington Nevada can make informed decisions when it comes to hiring a lawyer.
Contested and Uncontested Divorces
There are two different types of divorce in Nevada, contested and uncontested. A uncontested divorce consists of several documents that are prepared and filed with the court. These documents perform several different functions that adhere to the Nevada Revised Statute, Chapter 125. This chapter of Nevada law governs the Dissolution of Marriage and contains all of the criteria, acknowledgements and declarations that need to be put on paper and filed with the court.
As long as all the statutory requirements have been met, and uncontested divorce can be signed into a final divorce decree by a judge. Neither party will have to appear in court, and that signed divorce decree becomes the final order.
Of course, in order to file an uncontested divorce, you would have to agree on everything about the divorce. That means who gets custody of the kids, who gets to keep living in the house, and child support and/or alimony that needs to be paid. This requires a great deal of communication and cooperation between the soon to be ex-spouses. Unfortunately, sometimes divorces are much uglier, which makes communication difficult.
A contested divorce is when there are issues that the spouses cannot agree on. Most often in contested divorces, the two do not even speak to each other. There has sometimes been some sort of wrongdoing by one, or both of the two once happily married people. With this wrongdoing comes a lot of hurt feelings which make it difficult to be rational when negotiating a fair settlement. This is why the majority of contested divorces in the area need a Yerington lawyer on both sides to facilitate a settlement.
If a settlement cannot be reached, the divorce will go to trial. Divorce trials are extremely expensive, labor intensive and time consuming. Witnesses must be called, examined, and cross-examined. Evidence must be filed and reviewed by the court and all of the pleadings filed must be ruled upon. The amount of work and time that your divorce attorney must commit makes the legal fees in a divorce trial very high on both sides.
Trying to represent yourself in a contested divorce at any time greatly increases the likelihood of your case going to trial. Attempting to represent yourself at trail is even more dangerous as you risk losing everything.
When you DON’T Need a Yerington Divorce Lawyer
Many Nevada District Courts have online resources that contain packets that you can download, print, and fill out. You can then file these packets with the court. These packets range from motions regarding custody, change of address forms and even divorce paperwork. Unfortunately, Lyon County District Court offers no such resources. The 3rd Judicial District Court website is only a few pages of the Lyon County Website with no downloadable resources.
If you can agree on all matters in the divorce, you unfortunately cannot just download a packet and fill it out with your spouse like in some other jurisdictions in Nevada. This means that you will need to hire the services of a professional to draft the paperwork in accordance with NRS 125.
You can hire the services of a paralegal, or a legal document preparation service for much less than an attorney would charge to prepare the paperwork. However, unfortunately with these services you will get what you pay for. If your divorce has no issues involving custody or there are no community assets or debts, a paralegal service may work for you. However, if there are complicated issues that need to be covered in the uncontested paperwork, you would be better off hiring a lawyer to prepare the paperwork. The divorce attorney fees for just preparing the uncontested divorce paperwork will be much more affordable than the fees for a contested divorce.
When you DO Need a Yerington Divorce Attorney
Even if you are getting an uncontested divorce, it is normally always smart to hire a lawyer to prepare the paperwork just to be sure that there are no errors. Even the slightest mistake in that paperwork can potentially cause issues down the road. The last thing you need is an improperly written divorce decree being challenged years after the fact.
If you are in a contested divorce, the services of an experienced divorce lawyer are essential. You need an impartial negotiator on your side that knows all the Nevada divorce laws and statutes. Most people who are parties to a divorce, especially if there are custody issues involved, are every emotionally involved in the issue. This makes it very difficult for people to objectively negotiate a fair and equitable settlement for both parties.
If a settlement cannot be reached, the divorce case will go to trial. Divorce trials, while rare, can last days in district court. The amount of time, effort, and work that a divorce trial entail makes them ridiculously expensive in legal fees alone. For this reason, the lawyers on both sides will strongly urge their clients to agree to a settlement.
Yerington Lawyer at Justice Law Center
While our cozy little town of Yerington is far from a sprawling metropolitan city, there are many folks here that need a professional, experienced Yerington lawyer to represent them in court. Our team of divorce attorneys have been helping the residents of Yerington Nevada for over 25 years with their family law issues and will be here for you.
We care about our clients, and we take all the time necessary to understand their legal issues and get to know them and their families. When it comes time to go to court, we never back down and if your case has to go all the way to get you what is fair, we are ready.
Justice Law Center offers free initial consultations. We do this so we can get to know you and your case, and offer you the best legal advice possible, before any money changes hands.
Call us today.
Josh Nay is a writer and paralegal with over 10 years of experience in personal injury cases, family law and criminal defense.
