If your marriage is on the rocks and you’re thinking about divorce, then you have to know how to position yourself to come out of the process as protected as possible. This means you’ll have to anticipate issues with property division, spousal support and child custody. And you don’t want to make the mistake of waiting too long to start developing your legal strategy. After all, once you break the news of divorce to your spouse, they may make it more difficult to communicate, spend time with your child and gather the evidence needed to craft strong legal arguments.
Therefore, now is the time to start seeking out evidence to support your marriage dissolution case. That might leave you feeling uncertain about where to start, but we hope that this post will give you some ideas about how to approach your set of circumstances.
Where to look for evidence to support your position on divorce-related legal issues
Your first step is to consider which legal issues are going to be hotly contested in your divorce. This typically includes property division and child custody, but alimony arguments, when raised, can also become tense. So, think through which matters are going to be most problematic in your divorce, then look in the following places for evidence to support your position:
- Financial records: It’ll be easier to access records pertaining to marital accounts before breaking the news of divorce to your spouse. This may be especially true if your spouse is controlling, meaning that once they know you’re seeking a way out of the marriage they may squirrel these records away and block your access to them. While there are legal maneuvers you can implement to still get your hands on these records, it’s best to see if you can look them over and copy them while you’re still with your spouse.
- An inventory: You should get your fair share of the marital estate, but that’ll be dependent upon what’s identified as being contained within that estate. In too many cases, spouses try to hide or spend away marital assets once they’re informed of their spouse’s intent to seek divorce. This can make it harder to locate those assets and loop them into the property division process. So, consider conducting an inventory before filing for divorce so that it’s easier for you to see what all should be incorporated into the property division process.
- Social media: You may have free access to your spouse’s social media pages at the moment, but that’s likely to change once you file for divorce. There may be posts on there that are helpful to your position, too, whether they show your spouse making statements or acting in a way that shows parental unfitness or that demonstrate that they’ve mismanaged marital wealth. This evidence can be key to multiple legal issues you’ll confront in your divorce.
- Your spouse’s statements and actions: Once you file for divorce, your spouse may be more careful with what they say, making it difficult to show how their statements and actions have a bearing on your divorce proceeding. So, in the lead up to your divorce, be sure to take notes, pictures and videos that may help you in your marriage dissolution case. If you’re in a dangerous situation, though, such as being subjected to domestic violence, then you need to find a fast and safe way out of your marriage.
Step into your divorce prepared to fight for what you deserve
There’ll be plenty of legal issues to address in the midst of your divorce. Fortunately, you can start off on strong footing by gathering the evidence needed well ahead of time. We know that the process can be frightening, but engaging in thorough preparation will give you peace of mind, competence and an increased chance of securing the outcome you want in your divorce.