How civilized will you be when it comes to dividing the marital property? If you’re currently going through an adversarial divorce, you probably don’t remember the time when you were so in love with your spouse that you believed love was all you ever needed to make you happy. Now you know better.
Getting your fair share of the personal assets is what will make you happy. Getting more than your fair share will make you very happy. Love has gone and all that remains are the things that money can buy. And you want them. All of them, or as much as you can get.
Property settlements can bring out the worst in even the most civilized human beings. In an ideal world, the ending of relationships would produce logical property division. This is far from an ideal world and attorneys are ever ready to assist in the removal of favored material possessions from errant spouses.
It isn’t even important that you have a critical need for specific properties or possessions as long as taking them away from your spouse will cause him or her discomfort. Financially hurting your soon-to-be-ex can help ease the pain of the divorce, depending upon your emotional makeup.
Family, friends, business and social associates also fall into the “property” category, although they shouldn’t be and getting them to understand you’re the good one and your spouse is the bad one in this failed relationship usually takes more than good legal representation.
Not wanting to part with personal possessions can hold a person in an unhappy marriage. Property settlements can drag on for years, with mounting legal costs, in some cases, eliminating the property altogether. Too often, the division is unequal, forcing one partner to live substantially below the economic lifestyle provided during the marriage.
In marriages where family finances are already stretched, a divorce, and the resultant need for two complete households to replace the one being divided, will reduce the living standards of both exes. It is small wonder that many people hold their marriages together through a fear of not being able to afford living apart.
Fear of losing material possessions should never be the glue holding anyone in a bad relationship. Material possessions can be replaced. Personal happiness does not have a price tag.