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An uncontested divorce benefits high-profile professionals

On Behalf of | Jun 25, 2019 | Firm News

You might imagine that because you have a solid career and substantial assets you have more to lose in an amicable divorce. You might think that fighting for the assets you want is more important when you have more assets overall. That could lead you to have an adversarial or aggressive approach to your spouse as you head toward divorce.

However, as a successful professional, the community opinion of you factors into your financial stability. Whether you work as an accountant, a doctor or another respected professional, a messy divorce can damage not just your personal life but also your professional reputation. You need to keep your financial future in mind when making decisions about your upcoming divorce.

Getting divorced in and of itself is no longer an issue for most potential clients. However, a messy divorce with embarrassing public testimony about misbehavior by you or your ex could raise eyebrows and cost you work in the future.

Uncontested divorces won’t air your dirty laundry

When you and your ex have a prenuptial agreement, successfully complete mediation or negotiate a settlement, you simply present the courts with the terms that you both accept regarding the division of your assets and the custody of your children, as well as any spousal support or child support.

When it comes to child support, in particular, the courts will scrutinize uncontested divorce terms to ensure that they comply with the law. If they don’t they can reject them. Provided that they do comply with the law, the process of getting a divorce becomes merely a series of formalities that require signatures and court dates.

If you have a contested divorce, however, everything you and your ex say about one another will become part of the official public record. That can quickly result in damage to your professional prospects. Anyone from an angry neighbor to a competitor could obtain transcripts of the court proceedings from your divorce and use the contents to humiliate you or alienate you from your clients.

Uncontested divorces give you more power over the terms and allow you to protect your job

If you have built up a business as part of your professional practice, you will likely want to maintain control of it as you divorce. Working with your spouse to set terms for your divorce reduces the chance that the courts will allocate partial ownership of your business to your ex in the divorce.

Even if you don’t currently agree with your facts about everything, that doesn’t mean that an uncontested divorce isn’t possible. You should sit down with an attorney as soon as possible to talk about your options and how to best protect your professional reputation and future career while going through a divorce.