How do you prepare a divorce agreement with a lawyer so that every legal issue between the parties is settled? Many people ask this question, and the answer is simple but not short.
When you face a divorce, you usually see two options: gear up for war with your spouse, or reach an amicable settlement through negotiation. If you have no appetite for a long, draining battle, and you want to divorce by agreement but your spouse is not yet a partner to the process, there is a third option: hire a professional lawyer who will steer the divorce without inflaming the atmosphere and without wasting valuable time, a lawyer who can draft a divorce agreement that treats both parties with respect.
How to prepare a divorce agreement with a lawyer – first, what is a divorce agreement?
Signing a divorce agreement is one of the last steps on the way to receiving a get. Sometimes the agreement is reached by consent; sometimes, when the two sides cannot agree, the court issues a ruling that takes its place.
A divorce agreement is meant to settle every issue connected to the end of the couple’s life together. A professionally drafted agreement covers matters such as the division of property, support payments, and child custody, and if the couple accumulated debts during the marriage, it will address repayment of those debts as well.
A divorce agreement often replaces litigation. Couples arrive at the family court or the rabbinical court with a signed agreement and thereby avoid a long fight that could escalate into something exhausting for everyone.
In this article we look at how to prepare a divorce agreement with a lawyer and walk through the main chapters of the agreement: division of property, support, child custody, and more.
How to prepare a divorce agreement with a lawyer – why draft it with a lawyer at all?
There are boilerplate divorce agreements that many couples use to save on legal fees. That is a mistake. A divorce agreement has to contain clauses that reflect the particular circumstances of the couple and their separation. Every couple and every family is different, and a one-size-fits-all agreement cannot serve them all. A professional lawyer knows how to draft an agreement that expresses the interests of both parties, represents them fairly, and reflects current case law on divorce agreements as it develops in the courts.
How to prepare a divorce agreement with a lawyer – the division of property
The property chapters of the agreement set out how the assets the spouses accumulated during their life together will be divided. The lawyer receives from the spouses an organized list of everything they own and clarifies how they want it divided. Property is not just real estate; joint property also includes bank accounts, the family cars, jewelry, valuable art or antiques, movable property, savings, investments, accrued pension and social rights, business interests and, in recent years, goodwill as well. Where the spouses accumulated debts during the marriage, the agreement must state clearly how those debts will be repaid.
How to prepare a divorce agreement with a lawyer – child custody
One of the chapters in the divorce agreement is devoted to child custody. The more children a couple has, the more detailed this chapter becomes, since it must answer the particular needs of each child. Broadly, there are different ways to divide custody between the parents. Some couples choose sole custody, where one parent has primary custody and the other has visitation time, and some choose joint custody, where custody and responsibility are shared equally between the parents.
How to prepare a divorce agreement with a lawyer – child support
The amount of child support is set according to the custody arrangement the couple chooses. When the mother is the sole custodial parent, for example, she will receive higher child support than under joint custody. A careful, experienced lawyer will spell out in the agreement the monthly amount, the payment dates, how the payments are transferred, and how extra expenses such as medical treatment are handled.
How to prepare a divorce agreement with a lawyer – arranging the get
A professional divorce agreement also includes clauses on the get itself: where it will be given, the date if one has already been set, and more. A well-drafted agreement builds in mechanisms that ensure neither spouse backs out of the decision to give or accept the get.
The agreement should also address how future decisions about the children will be made: the kind of education they will receive, the schools they will attend, how far apart the parents may live, trips abroad, vacations in Israel, and more. It should also set a mechanism for resolving disputes between the parents, on any child-related issue, that may arise down the road.
To sum up, how do you prepare a divorce agreement with a lawyer? Rule one: trust your lawyer
Drafting a good, professional divorce agreement demands experience, legal knowledge, negotiation skill, and real sensitivity. While the agreement takes shape, the lawyer works through the major decisions about the couple’s “life together” after the divorce: the amount of support, child custody, division of joint property, a mechanism for handling future disputes and crises, and more.
