Legal Question in Family Law in Alabama

Re: Divorce, Contested, Alimony, Adultery

Your wife cannot stop you from getting a divorce, but she can make the process very difficult for you if she wants to spend the money and emotional energy on it. A judge is not going to force you to remain in a marriage that you do not want, so you will be getting your divorce whether your wife wants it or not. The issues in dispute in your divorce trial will be things like whether she is entitled to alimony (it is not automatic, especially if she is working), how much alimony she should receive and for how long (if she is entitled to it at all), what percentage of your retirement she should receive (and what percentage of her retirement you should receive), child custody and child support if those are relevant, which person should pay which bills, who should receive the house and whether the other person should be given their equity in it, etc. There are a tremendous number of issues that could be dispute in your case, depending on the specifics of your situation.

The best thing you can do right now is to go get an experienced divorce lawyer immediately. You need to get an attorney on your side who can begin building a case for you as to why you should not pay alimony, why you should not have to pay all the marital debts, and other issues related to the financial dissolution of this marriage. Family law is an area of practice where the judge has a lot of flexibility in what he or she can order, depending on the particular circumstances of a case. You need to aggressively present your side of this situation in order to protect your rights.

Contested divorces are long and are usually expensive. Most attorneys charge by the hour on contested divorces, so the longer your wife wants to fight the more it will cost. However, that rule will apply to her as well. While she is angry and ready to make you miserable right now, she may change her plans once she realizes that her revenge is going to cost her thousands of dollars in legal fees. When she starts dealing with that reality, she may be ready to reach an out-of-court settlement with you.

Our firm handles contested divorce cases. If you would like to discuss the situation with one of our attorneys, please feel free to give us a call.