Communication is a key component of every successful relationship, and the breakdown of communication is often cited as being a primary cause of divorce. It may strike you as odd to learn that clear communication is also important in relation to your divorce and can make a serious difference in how well your rights are protected.
If you’re facing a divorce, you need the skilled legal counsel of an experienced Round Rock divorce attorney backing you up.
Clear Communication Is a Big Part of a Happy Marriage
It’s hard to support your spouse and to bolster their happiness in life if you don’t really know them and have no idea how they are feeling, what they need, and what they want out of life because they don’t share this information with you.
This has more to do with expressing oneself both verbally and nonverbally than it does with sitting one’s spouse down and going through a list of likes and dislikes, dreams and desires, as well as long-term goals.
Getting to Know One Another
Marriage generally begins with mutual attraction, which evolves into getting to know one another better and wanting to know more. Over the years, married couples tend to work out a shorthand means of communicating that serves them both well and allows their close relationships to thrive.
Sharing with One Another
Clear communication in a marriage isn’t about how much you talk—it’s about connection. It means sharing both the big and small things, facing challenges together, laughing through life’s annoyances, and always having each other’s back. And sometimes, that doesn’t require long conversations.
When a couple’s ability to communicate with one another breaks down, it can spell the end of the marriage. Sometimes, communication losses are a symptom of something else, such as infidelity or addiction, but at other times, they reflect one or both spouses’ loss of interest in the relationship.
Saving Your Marriage
if you sense that communication between you and your spouse is slipping, it doesn’t mean that divorce is inevitable, but it’s a clear sign that it’s time to put some effort into turning things around. Relationships are built on trust and open communication, and if either is lacking in your marriage, waiting to see what happens is not likely to do you any favors.
Communicating Clearly Is Also Important When It Comes to Divorce
If you’ve already come to the difficult decision that you need a divorce, communication will also play an important role as you navigate the challenging path ahead. This includes communicating effectively with your spouse in order to keep your case on track.
There is also, however, the matter of communicating openly with your practiced Round Rock divorce lawyer, which will help to ensure that your priorities are well established, that your rights are well protected, and that you have the information you need to make the right decisions for you.
Finally, you’ll need to find a way to lovingly share the difficult news of your divorce with your children. In other words, there is a lot of communication that needs to be done. Let’s take a closer look.
Communicating with Your Spouse
You are facing a divorce, and there is a lot of work to be done. This involves negotiating your divorce terms between yourselves – with the trusted guidance of your respective divorce lawyers.
Divorce Terms in Texas
While your divorce won’t be exactly like anyone else’s, the terms that need to be resolved remain the same, including:
Child custody arrangements, including legal custody, which addresses parental decision-making authority and parenting time
Child support
The equitable division of your marital property, which in Texas refers to a just and right division
Alimony – or spousal maintenance
If you can hammer out terms that you both agree to between yourselves, your divorce will be uncontested, which means you won’t need the court’s intervention. In addition to having legal representation on your side, you also have the option of attending a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), such as mediation.
Mediation
At mediation, a professional mediator – in their capacity as a neutral third party – will go back and forth between you and your focused divorce attorney and your divorcing spouse and theirs in an attempt to foster open communication and to build on any compromises you’ve already reached.
Mediation amounts to a structured form of communication that helps many couples move beyond stalemate positions.
Negotiating the Terms of Your Divorce
Most divorcing couples are very motivated to keep their cases out of court – where a virtual stranger would make decisions on their behalf and where open communication between the two of them is no longer a concern.
In court, each spouse presents their case through their respective divorce lawyer to the judge – who proceeds to make primary decisions that address their parental and financial rights and that will directly affect their futures.
In other words, keeping the lines of communication open between you and your spouse is generally preferred, and you don’t have to be on friendly terms to do so. At this point in the process, you and your soon-to-be ex will need to exchange information with one another and find middle ground, but that doesn’t necessarily mean hashing things out face-to-face.
In fact, the two of you don’t even have to be on speaking terms in order to negotiate effectively. Texting, direct messaging, or emailing one another can work just as well, and as an added bonus, it leaves you with a record of any decisions you reach together.
If your divorce is contentious and writing back and forth to one another is more than you can handle, you can negotiate through your respective divorce lawyers. While this is generally more costly, it can also help you cut to the chase, which could save you money in the long run. Once you’ve exhausted these options, it’s likely time to consider mediation.
Keeping the Lines of Communication Open Between You Post-Divorce
Your need to communicate with your ex doesn’t end when your divorce is finalized. In fact, if you share children, it’s likely to become that much more important. Yes, you’ll have a parenting plan in place, but you can expect plenty of scheduling complications to arise, including all the following:
When one of your children is sick
When either parent is sick
When either you or your ex’s work schedule interferes
When a scheduling snafu occurs
When school or daycare is called off unexpectedly
When a babysitter cancels unexpectedly
When any of life’s ups and downs intervene
In the end, you and your ex will need to have a foolproof means of effectively and efficiently communicating with one another. This can mean picking up the phone and giving the other a call, but if you haven’t reached the stage where you can chat with one another, texting or using the messaging system in a parenting app can get the job done.
Communicating with Your Resourceful Divorce Attorney
Divorce is a complex legal matter, and the terms you walk away with will play a key role in your future. The most important means you have of protecting your rights and helping to ensure favorable terms is communicating openly and effectively with your dedicated Round Rock divorce attorney.
Your legal representative can’t provide you with the level of help you need if they don’t have all the information they need, which will have to come from you.
Documentation
Part of the communication you’ll need to do with your divorce lawyer involves getting them the documentation they need to assess what your divorce entails. This includes gathering financial information that outlines the assets involved as well as the costs associated with running your home and providing for your children.
It’s difficult to establish a plan without the necessary background information, and the more thorough you are, the better protected your rights will be.
Both you and your divorcing spouse will be required to exchange complete financial records with one another during the discovery phase of your case. The higher your assets, however, and the more complicated your financials are, the easier it becomes for your soon-to-be ex to hide funds or to otherwise engage in practices that could leave you with less than the amount you deserve.
Your Divorce Priorities
Another important aspect of communicating with your well-respected divorce attorney is sharing your divorce priorities. If you can’t identify the issues that are most important to you, it makes strategizing the clearest path forward far more difficult.
Your knowledgeable Round Rock divorce lawyer will ensure that you understand the divorce process as well as each of the terms that apply to your case and will help you pinpoint the priorities that you consider worth fighting for.
For example, you may be invested in becoming the primary custodial parent and remaining in the family home with your children, which can dramatically affect how you address negotiations.
Regardless of what your priorities are, you should pin them down before engaging in robust negotiations. Too many people slogging through the divorce process waste a lot of time, money, and heartache fighting over every detail when having a plan would not only be far more effective but would also better protect their rights – in the context of their priorities.
Communicating with Your Children
If you’re going through a divorce that involves children, you’re going to need to sit them down and share the news, and as difficult as that sounds, there is no getting around it. In fact, this is an instance when you’ll need to call upon your most effective communication skills.
There is no way to sugarcoat the fact that divorce is hard on children, and they tend to have a hard time not making it all about themselves, which can include blaming themselves. In other words, this is going to be a tough conversation that will undoubtedly lead to other tough conversations, and you’ll want to bring your A game. Helpful hints include:
If it is at all possible, you and your children’s other parent should tell your children together. This helps establish that the divorce is neither parent’s fault and that you’ll both be there for your children moving forward – come what may.
Tell your children all at the same time. Burdening one child with this information and then moving on to the next is not a great plan. You are all in this together, and tackling the challenge together helps unite you.
Use language that all your children can understand. If this means simplifying things for the younger kids, you can always engage in a more in-depth conversation with your older children at another time.
Speak from a place of love and understanding. Your goal should be calming your children’s fears and ensuring them that you and their other parent are committed to doing everything you can to support their needs and make the transition as painless as possible for them.
Don’t bring adult topics into the conversation. For example, children shouldn’t have to worry about financial concerns or about how you’re going to make everything work.
Answer all your children’s questions as honestly as you can, keeping your focus on everything you and their other parent are doing to ensure their lives change as little as possible.
Consult with an Experienced Round Rock Divorce Lawyer Today
Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard is a savvy Round Rock divorce attorney who appreciates the challenges you face and has the experience, legal insight, and drive to help. To learn more about what we can do for you, please don’t delay contacting or calling us at 254-781-4222 and scheduling a free consultation today.