Getting divorced is a process. There are several steps involved, and it is crucial that you carefully follow each step with your future goals and needs in mind.
There are also several mistakes you need to avoid.
As you prepare for your divorce, understanding the steps you must take and the mistakes you must avoid will be equally important. While some errors can be corrected, others cannot. In any case, mistakes can add costs and delays to the process, and they can get in the way of securing an efficient and favorable outcome that allows you to start your new life confidently.
10 Mistakes to Avoid When Preparing to Get Divorced
So, what should you not do if you are preparing to go through a divorce in South Carolina? Here are ten common mistakes you should avoid:
1. Making Flawed Assumptions
If you are preparing to go through a divorce, you need to avoid making any assumptions about the divorce process. Rather than making assumptions, you need to make informed decisions—and you need to do so with your long-term best interests in mind. If you make assumptions about what you can (or can’t) expect along the way, or if you make assumptions about what you might (or might not) be able to achieve through the divorce process, you will almost certainly overlook opportunities to achieve an efficient, amicable, and favorable resolution.
2. Relying on Misleading Information
Just as you must avoid making flawed assumptions, you must also avoid relying on misleading information. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misleading information out there. While some of the information you will find online is just flat-out wrong, divorce laws vary from state to state, so information in other states won’t necessarily be accurate in South Carolina.
3. Overlooking Marital Assets or Debts
All divorcing couples in South Carolina must divide their marital assets and debts. South Carolina is an “equitable distribution” state, meaning you must focus on what is fair under the circumstances of your divorce—which may or may not mean a 50-50 split.
But, before you divide your marital assets and debts, you must ensure you know everything on the table. If you overlook any assets or debts during your divorce, this could lead to challenging (and costly) problems down the line.
4. Improperly Classifying Separate Assets as Marital Assets
When identifying your assets, it is also essential to correctly classify each asset as “marital” or “separate.” While marital assets are subject to division during the divorce process, separate assets are not. Here, too, mistakes and oversights can lead to problems down the line—and it is far less expensive to avoid these problems than to resolve them.
5. Overlooking Sources of Income (Either Yours or Your Spouse’s)
At the start of the divorce process, you must prepare a Financial Declaration form that lists your assets and sources of income. Your spouse will need to prepare one as well. It is essential not to overlook any sources of income when preparing your Financial Declaration, as this can also lead to additional complications.
As you work through your preparations, you will also want to think about your spouse’s sources of income. Suppose you have any reason to believe that your spouse may withhold information from his or her Financial Declaration. In that case, you should discuss this with your attorney promptly—as this could have significant implications regarding child support and alimony.
6. Ignoring Options for Dividing Your Marital Assets
As mentioned above, equitably distributing marital assets in a South Carolina divorce doesn’t necessarily mean splitting these assets 50-50. Regardless of what is “equitable” under the circumstances, you and your spouse will have various options for dividing your marital estate. Frequently, divorcing spouses will overlook options available, leading to contentious disputes that could—and should—have been avoided. The best way to avoid this mistake is to discuss all of your options with an experienced divorce attorney.
7. Ignoring Options for Dividing Parenting Time
The same is true about parenting time (or child custody). From traditional custody-and-visitation schedules to co-parenting, divorcing parents have lots of options for developing post-divorce parenting plans in South Carolina. Before making decisions about child custody, you should consider all available options.
8. Using an Online Child Support Calculator
If you have minor children from your marriage, you will need to address child support during your divorce. While calculators are available online (including one from the South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS)), you should rely on something other than these calculators during your divorce. As the South Carolina DSS makes clear, its calculator provides an estimate only, and this estimate can be inaccurate for a variety of reasons.
9. Being Unprepared (or Unwilling) to Compromise
All spouses need to be prepared to compromise during the divorce process. Neither spouse gets everything, and ensuring you are ready to compromise (when warranted) will help ensure your divorce does not end unnecessarily in court.
10. Trying to Handle Your Situation on Your Own
Finally, given the various issues and complexities involved in the divorce process in South Carolina, you should not try to handle your divorce on your own. Instead, you should hire an experienced divorce attorney to help you. An experienced divorce attorney will be able to help you make informed and confident decisions, and, in the end, hiring an attorney can be the most cost-effective way to achieve the outcome you deserve.
Speak with a South Carolina Divorce Attorney in Confidence
Are you preparing to go through a divorce? If so, we invite you to get in touch. To schedule an appointment with a South Carolina divorce attorney at our law offices in Mt. Pleasant or Goose Creek, please call 843-572-1711 or request a confidential consultation online today.