The Perils of an Unfriendly Divorce

It is a common belief that you must hire an aggressive divorce lawyer to represent you in your divorce. We often hear potential clients tell us how they want someone who is going to fight vigorously on their behalf. They want to be aggressive in order to negotiate from a position of strength, assuming they can always back down and reach a reasonable settlement later in the divorce.

Unfortunately, most people do not weigh the potential negatives from a scorched earth strategy. First and foremost is the impact on the children. Even with the best efforts to keep the divorce away from the children, children are very perceptive and create their own ideas of what is happening with the divorce.

Second, aggressive actions in a divorce seem to produce equally aggressive responses, causing the hostility to escalate. This strategy can quickly spiral out of control as the parties engage in a game of one-upmanship.

Finally, an aggressive approach usually does not lead to a better result. Most cases are straightforward enough where an experienced divorce lawyer can predict the potential outcome. Therefore, you must decide whether you want to pay a significant amount in legal fees and spend nearly a year to reach a similar result had you resolved the case amicably, saving six or more months of time and significantly less on legal fees.

At Pitler Family Law, our Michigan divorce attorneys handle family law, divorce, child custody, parenting time, visitation, child support and alimony matters throughout the Detroit metropolitan area, including Farmington Hills, Livonia, Bloomfield Hills, Troy, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Rochester, Mt. Clemens, Dearborn, Warren, Southfield, and all of Oakland County, Wayne County, Livingston County, and Macomb County.