Most divorce cases resolve without going to trial, but the ones that do involve a trial are the ones that have the biggest effect on your reputation as a lawyer. Divorce trials are stressful for the couple in the process of divorce and for the people close to them, but they are not exactly a walk in the park for family law attorneys, either. Clients might be upset if they emerge from divorce mediation with a settlement agreement that does not give them all of the marital property they were hoping to get, but they head straight for the review sites to post a negative review when the judge rules against them at trial.
The best trial is the one that you can manage to avoid. If your client has reached an impasse with his or her spouse, though, going to trial might be your only option. The best way to achieve a successful outcome at trial is by preparing thoroughly and discussing reasonable expectations with your client. These are some pieces of advice that family law attorneys can follow to make the process of a divorce trial less stressful for everyone involved.
Make Sure You Have Tried All Other Options Before Shifting Into a Trial Mindset
Some clients come to their initial consultation with a divorce lawyer spoiling for a fight. They want to see the judge order their spouse to hand over a large share of the marital property, including assets to which their spouse has an emotional attachment. Many family law attorneys have a memorized spiel for situations like these, about how divorce is not about winning or losing; it is about starting the next chapter of your life in a manageable financial position, even though most divorce cases require both spouses to downgrade their lifestyle at least a little bit.
The courts require all couples filing for contested divorce to attend mediation before they will schedule a trial unless they have a restraining order that makes this impossible. Make every effort to negotiate with the lawyer of your client’s spouse during mediation until you reach a settlement that is acceptable to your client. Make sure your client understands that resolving his or her divorce case through mediation costs a lot less than going to trial.
Be Thorough About Requesting Evidence During the Pretrial Phase
Your goal at trial is to persuade the judge to grant the requests that your client made in his or her divorce petition or response to the other spouse’s divorce petition. The stakes are not as high as in a criminal trial, where a person’s freedom depends on whether the defense can prove that there is reasonable doubt about the accusations, but you must still support your claims convincingly. During the pretrial phase, you should decide which evidence you will show and which witnesses you will summon. You also have the right to request disclosures from the other party about which evidence they intend to present.
You should diligently anticipate any question the attorney for your client’s spouse might ask your witnesses during cross-examination and advise the witnesses on how to respond. You should also request all the evidence that your client’s spouse plans to present and think of counterarguments to it.
Non-Human Witnesses are the Least Biased
The testimony of the spouses themselves often plays a central role in a divorce trial. You might also summon other witnesses, such as your client’s doctor, to testify about the severity of your client’s health problems, or teachers or daycare providers to testify about your client’s relationship with his or her children. Expert witnesses might even testify about the amount of income to impute to your client’s spouse.
The problem with all of these witnesses is that they are human, and all human beings have biases. It is easy for a cross-examining lawyer to show how a party in a family law case is intentionally presenting the account of events in the light most favorable to him or her. You can make your point even more effectively with documents, photographs, and other pieces of evidence that have neither the means nor the motive to lie. If you show the court a screenshot of the angry text messages that your client’s spouse sent to your client shortly before the divorce filing, your client’s spouse can claim that he did not mean what he said, but it will be very difficult for him to claim convincingly that he did not say it.
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