While there is nothing wrong with a quick divorce, there are many times that rushing the legal process won’t help end your emotional pain. In fact, rushing your case may cost you more money in after-the-fact fixes. Here are my top 4 reasons why you should not rush your divorce:
1. Double Legal Fees.
Sarah thought my price was too high. She went with her husband to a discount “divorce mill” upstate that promised a cheap divorce in under a month. The divorce papers were filed but her ex- was refusing to move out. Not only that, he was making sexual advances. One night, they got in a fight and the police were called. They arrested Sarah and put a restraining order in place preventing her from going home! The result: we had to act quickly to transfer the upstate case to the city and make an emergency motion so that Sarah could see her 2-year-old son. Her fast, cheap divorce turned into a full-out court battle. “If I had only paid you the first time to negotiate, you wouldn’t have left these loose ends!” she lamented. Instead she paid the divorce mill and then she paid me to clean up their mistakes.
2. Bad Financial Decisions.
“This is taking too long! I can’t stand it anymore,” Ben told me. We had been negotiating his divorce for two months and were now waiting to be assigned for the first hearing in his case. “I’m ready to sign anything just to get this over,” he said. But I wouldn’t let him. He was offering to pay for his wife’s rent indefinitely, an offer that she would most likely be willing to accept. “She lives in a small one-bedroom right now, but what if she moves to Trump Towers?” I asked him. Several months later and his wife had a new live-in boyfriend, and Ben was over the idea of financing their rent. “Let him pay for it,” he said. “You were right – I’d be kicking myself right now if I had agreed to that!”
Tip: Take some time out to think about financial decision-making; there is a reason people say “sleep on it,” because a little extra time can save you big in the long run!