Tips for a Successful DIY Divorce

by Jeff Miller

When you are getting a Florida divorce, the single smartest thing you can do is to get help from a Florida divorce attorney. Your attorney will assist you with all legal and procedural aspects of the divorce, from filing the papers to negotiating a divorce settlement agreement to going to a hearing in court and helping you to dissolve the marriage. Having a lawyer makes the entire divorce process easy and allows you to protect your rights and stay focused on the details of getting a divorced. However, not everyone can afford an attorney and not everyone wants one. If you find yourself ending your marriage and you really donâEUR(TM)t want or need a lawyer, you will need to know some of the key tips to a successful DIY divorce.


If you want to get a divorce without the help of a lawyer, you should first stop to consider whether it really makes sense for you to even attempt this or whether you are making a short-sighted decision that will come back to haunt you. If you have kids, have significant marital assets or otherwise have any issues that complicate your divorce, you should think twice about whether a DIY divorce is right for you.

In a simple divorce situation, however, you can be successful in a DIY divorce if you follow these basic tips:



1. Stay calm and donâEUR(TM)t use the divorce as a tool to punish or hurt your spouse. Being difficult during the divorce process is only likely to make the divorce more complicated and make it more likely that you will not be able to get a divorce without a lawyer.2. Work out a divorce settlement agreement with your spouse out of court. If you are able to sit down and negotiate the division of custody, assets and property as well as issues of support, you can simply have a judge sign off on your agreement. If you canâEUR(TM)t do this and need to litigate issues, it is time to get a Florida divorce lawyer.3. Read up on your legal rights. You need to know how Florida decides custody, child support, spousal support and asset division so that you can know what to expect and what it is reasonable to ask for during your divorce settlement negotiations.4. Obtain Florida DIY divorce forms from a reliable and legitimate source. There is a lot of paperwork required when you end a marriage and you need to make sure that you have it all and complete it correctly. To ensure you do not miss any forms or documents, and to ensure that you have the most up-to-date forms, you should be sure to purchase divorce forms only from a qualified lawyer. Many people including paralegals and those with no legal experience at all may offer discount Florida divorce forms, but there is no guarantee that these will even be right. The last thing you want to do is to delay your divorce because of some procedural problem with the forms you used.

If you get the correct forms and you are able to negotiate an out-of-court agreement, then it may be possible for you to have a successful DIY divorce.

About the Author

Find Divorce Lawyer in Fort Lauderdale and Divorce Lawyers in Tampa at DivorceYes.Com.