Divorce

No one enters a marriage expecting it to end in divorce. When faced with divorce, just as you’ll need your family and friends for emotional support, you’ll need an experienced advocate to guide you through the process to protect what is most important to you: your children, your assets, and your future.

At Bardley McKnight Law, we successfully guide our clients through the divorce process by working with them to develop a sound legal strategy and keeping them informed at every stage of the process. Our goal is to preserve our client’s assets. To us, success means always acting in your best interests, respecting your wishes, and getting you the results you want and deserve.

No two divorce cases are exactly the same. There may be children involved, a business, real and personal property in dispute, debt, spousal support, and considerable assets. In Georgia, all of the property and assets you and your spouse acquired during the marriage must be divided fairly but that does not necessarily mean 50/50. Property and assets acquired before the marriage and any inheritance received by one spouse during the marriage is considered separate property and therefore, not subject to equitable division. Since classifying marital verses separate property is not always straightforward, it is imperative you hire a highly skilled and knowledgeable Atlanta family law attorney.

In some cases, courts will order alimony or spousal support. Whether a judge orders spousal support depends on each spouse’s ability to earn income as well as other factors, such as the length of the marriage and standard of living established during the marriage.

Effective advocacy in all types of divorce.

By definition, divorce means that a marriage is over, but there are several different legal approaches, including:

Uncontested divorce

In an uncontested divorce, the parties have a mutual desire to transition out of the marriage civilly and expeditiously. They have reached an agreement on how to raise their children moving forward and how to divide their assets and marital debt. Our divorce and custody lawyers draft all of the necessary pleadings, submit them to the court, and ensure the matter is finalized correctly. In addition to being less stressful, an uncontested divorce is the quickest and most cost effective way to finalize your divorce.

You may be wondering why a lawyer is necessary if you and your spouse agree. Consider the following: a couple agrees the wife will keep the marital home. The home is titled and mortgaged in both parties’ names. Neither party is cognizant of the fact the mortgage needs to be refinanced in order to remove the husband’s name from the mortgage and they fail to include that language in the documents they draft themselves. Several years later, the husband wishes to purchase another home and discovers during the home buying process his name is still on the former marital home. This is just one example of things skilled family law attorneys are trained to address that people representing themselves are likely to omit.

Contested divorce

When parties cannot agree on some or all aspects of their divorce, including but not limited to, division of marital assets, child custody, parenting time, child support, division of marital debt, alimony, etc., the divorce is considered contested.

Contested divorces typically involve the exchange of discovery, filing and arguing motions, hearings, mediation, and (if an out of court settlement cannot be reached) a trial. The attorneys at Bardley McKnight Law are skilled courtroom attorneys and masterful negotiators with years of divorce and custody litigation experience. We will guide you through the process with the goal of getting you everything you want, need, and deserve.

Mediation

A divorce or custody action can be a long, expensive, and exhausting ordeal.Mediation is a process whereby parties work with a neutral third whose goal is to help them work through their issues in an effort to reach a mutual agreement. Mediation can save parties time and thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees and litigation expenses. Mediation can also help resolve a case much quicker than going to court and is a much less adversarial process than appearing before a judge.

Mediation is a voluntary process, even when court ordered. Many of the counties in the Atlanta Area require parties of divorce and custody actions to attend mediation at least once before the case can be finalize.

Mediation can also be used to address more pressing issues like spousal support, child support, and visitation on a temporary basis until the parties can get on the judge’s calendar.

Though parties are not required to reach an agreement in mediation, they are required to act and negotiate in good faith.

To prepare for mediation, we have a strategy session with our clients in person or via conference call, whichever is more comfortable and convenient for them. During that strategy session, we prepare a mediation outline that focuses on what is most important to them: whether that’s custody of the minor children, receiving or paying a certain amount of child support, alimony, marital assets, retaining possession of the marital home, etc.

We discuss with our clients on the importance of going into mediation with an open mind because it really is an opportunity for them to have a greater amount of control over the outcome of their case. Once a case goes before a judge, he or she has the final say.

While the mediator will offer suggestions on ways to resolve various issues in a case, it is still ultimately up to the parties to make the decision to enter into an agreement.

In order to work toward reaching an agreement, both parties have to be willing to compromise. It is impossible for both parties to get every single thing they want.The goal is to reach an agreement that is fair and one that both parties can live with.

We ensure our clients understand that mediation is a great alternative to resolving their case but that they should only agree to terms that they are comfortable with after giving considerable thought to their options. No one wants to feel pressured into agreeing to terms they aren’t happy or comfortable with.

Choose experience. Choose Bardley McKnight Law

Bardley McKnight Law has helped clients from Lithia Hill to Villa Rica and from Atlanta to Winston get through a divorce. Choose experience, competence, compassion, and client-centered advocacy. Choose Bardley McKnight Law. Contact us today at (470) 308-5409 to schedule a consultation to discuss your needs.