No Matter How Embarrassing it can Be, you Have to be Honest with your Family Lawyer

ByGoodblatt • Leo Hours Categories Divorce, Family Law
Divorce word cloud

In a previous blog post, we talked about how important it is for you to be honest with your bankruptcy lawyer, even if that means discussing personal, potentially embarrassing information. This advice is valid for any interaction with a lawyer, no matter what type of legal issue you are facing.

Family law can be an emotional minefield, especially when you are going through a divorce or developing a time sharing agreement for your children. It can be easy to let your emotions color your perception, but you cannot let them cause you to lie or misrepresent the facts of your case to your lawyer.

Dishonesty Can Backfire and Hurt you

Your former spouse has a lawyer too, and if you lie about any of the relevant facts of your case, your former spouse and the lawyer will fight your claims and prove you to be wrong with the available evidence. Do not destroy your credibility by attempting to paint your former spouse as the “bad guy;” this is rarely, if ever, a successful strategy.

Your Lawyer Cannot Help you Without Knowing the Whole Story

Omitting details, even if you feel they are not important details, can be as destructive to your case as lying. This is because the legal strategy your lawyer develops for your case is customized to your specific circumstances. If your lawyer does not have all the details of the story, he or she cannot address them in your legal strategy, leaving you with a generic, ineffective case. Tell the whole story, even the parts that you feel make you look like a bad parent or spouse. Your lawyer may be able to determine ways to downplay these issues while focusing on your positive qualities as a parent.

Your lawyer also cannot determine if you are getting a fair settlement with regard to child support, spousal support, or your property division if he or she does not know your entire financial standing. Remember, your lawyer is on your team. He or she cannot work effectively without the tools to do so.

Your Lawyer May Drop you as a Client if you are Not Truthful

When you are interviewing potential lawyers to handle your case, you are looking for lawyers you feel you can trust. Your lawyer also needs to be able to trust you. If your lawyer determines that you were not truthful, he or she may feel that he or she can no longer serve you in good faith and opt to withdraw from the case. Do not put your lawyer, and yourself, in this position by being dishonest about your case.

Work with an Experienced Orlando Family Lawyer

If you are considering filing for divorce or if you are engaged in any other type of family law dispute, work with a compassionate, experienced family lawyer who can accurately represent your case and help you reach a favorable solution. At Goodblatt · Leo in Orlando, we are committed to our clients. We will not judge you, no matter what lies in your past.

Resource:

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.13.html

Goodblatt & Leo
+ posts

Our attorneys, Amy E. Goodblatt and Tatiana Leo, have more than 55 years of combined legal experience. They are directly involved in each case and stay focused on the issues that matter most to you.

Similar Posts

  • When a Spouse Stops Paying the Bills

    ByGoodblatt • Leo Hours Categories Division of Assets, Divorce, Family Law

    Divorce is usually not just an emotional challenge, but a financial one as well. When two people decide to split up, it means severing the economic ties that hold the marriage together. Indeed, this separation of assets and income is what consumes the lion’s share of the time spent on many divorces. In most marriages, there is one person who handles the bills, or at least takes the lead in handling the finances. In other marriages, couples might choose to keep finances separate. Still, even if keeping finances separate, there are no doubt large expenses that must be shared, such as a mortgage. So what happens when, during a divorce, one spouse simply stops making payments on certain bills that will affect the other spouse?…

  • Creating an Effective Parenting Plan During your Collaborative Divorce

    ByGoodblatt • Leo Hours Categories Collaborative Divorce, Divorce

    If you have chosen to end your marriage through the collaborative divorce process, you are in the driver’s seat when it comes to your divorce. Rather than having the court make the decisions , the people making the decisions regarding the issues in your case are you and your spouse with the guidance and assistance of your collaborative team, putting you in control. It can be difficult to separate your emotions from the necessity of working cooperatively to develop a parenting plan, but a parenting plan  is a crucial part of the divorce process for any couple with children. Keep the following in mind to make the process easier for you, and do not hesitate to ask your lawyer for guidance when you need it….

  • Schism and Skew: Common Marital Disasters

    ByGoodblatt • Leo Hours Categories Divorce, Family Law

    In every marriage, there comes a time when both people must face certain positive and negative aspects of their relationship. Excluding perhaps an incredibly limited minority of individuals, nobody makes it through life without changing or hitting bumps along the way. Marriage is tough. But when do those bumps become blocks? Divorce lawyers commonly see a variety of marital struggles when advising clients. Some are serious and some are not. When it comes to the children, Florida courts primarily focus on what is in the best interests of the child to determine custody matters. However, there are two little known marital conditions that can subtly destroy any marriage. For those who identify with either condition, it may be worth discussing the matter with a trusted…

  • Collaborative Divorce: Achieving your goals without hostility

    ByGoodblatt • Leo Hours Categories Collaborative Divorce, Divorce, Family Law

    Collaborative divorce has been increasing in popularity, and for good reason; it helps you achieve resolution in a less draining manner. While collaborative divorce can be a great help to reaching accord, both spouses still must work hard with the assistance of their lawyers. Time and Usefulness While collaborative divorce may very well be less time-consuming than standard courtroom proceedings, it will not be easy. It is not uncommon for people to believe that collaborative divorce will somehow be a walk in the park, when in reality, it is still divorce. Disengaging two people’s lives is always going to take time and effort unless the marriage has been very brief. However, the built-in benefit of collaborative divorce is that both spouses have access to a…

  • Shades of Gray: When it’s Time to Walk Away

    ByGoodblatt • Leo Hours Categories Divorce, Family Law, Gray Divorce

    A couple years ago, National Public Radio (NPR) did a revealing report on a trend known as gray divorce. This is what people are calling divorces that happen late in life. As the report illustrated divorce rates among seniors have doubled in the last 20 years. Research between 1990 and 2010 shows that the same generation that changed all the rules in the 60s is now changing all the rules again. In 2010 alone, one out of four divorces involved a couple over 50 years of age. Here in Florida, a state with a large number of retired seniors, this has become a clear departure from the past. Increasingly, seniors who previously would have been seeking estate-planning advice are now talking to their Florida divorce…

  • What is a Guardian Ad Litem and Do I Need One in My Case?

    ByGoodblatt • Leo Hours Categories Family Law

    In a divorce, modification, or paternity case where the issues concerning a child are highly contested, a Guardian Ad Litem (“GAL”) may be appointed by the Court. The GAL is a neutral person appointed by the Court to represent your child’s best interests. The GAL also assists in investigating allegations and making recommendations to the Court as to what is best for the child. The GAL will meet with both parties and the child as many times as deemed necessary. The GAL will talk to any witnesses you and the other party want them to.  He/she will review any documents provided or that they obtain, i.e. police reports, medical records, Court documents, school records, etc. The GAL will also assist in trying to resolve problems arising between the parties…