When should I contact a family lawyer?
Proper guidance can lower the level of anxiety and calm the fears. So much is at stake and it is necessary to protect both the children and the assets, so you should be prepared in advance for any scenario.
Family Lawyer
First, seek the services of a family lawyer who specializes solely in divorce, and not a family lawyer who assisted a member in a tort claim or in the one who drafted the home purchase contract. Second, hire the services of the best lawyer in the field of divorce law, because if yours is not – surely your spouse’s will be. The field of law is saturated with bumps, traps, and twists – and only a highly experienced and professional family lawyer will know how to navigate them successfully.
Key Advice from a Divorce Attorney in Israel: Therapy, Timing, and Strategic Court Decisions
My personal recommendation is that before embarking on a divorce proceeding, make sure that you have indeed done your best to rehabilitate the marriage and maintain the family unit, whether through couple therapy or individual therapy or that you have taken a break and devoted it to thoughtful consideration. The advantage of couple therapy over individual therapy is identifying the issues facing each partner and thoroughly treating them while understanding that each party can deal with the treatment options offered.
In my experience, the couples who have managed to save their marriage are the ones who have committed to do as much as possible for the marriage to succeed. They have set themselves the goal of maintaining their married life and they are sticking to it, despite the difficulties arising from the life of the couple. When we decide to commit, we actually decide to work hard and take responsibility for rebuilding the marriage, due to an understanding of the impact that divorce can have on our children and our financial and emotional situation.
And yet, sometimes the decision to divorce is right because it is impossible to bridge the gaps between the couple or because of some event that has led to a deterioration in their relationship. If the couple has exhausted all the possibilities for restoring their relationship and there is no choice left, it is worth going through a proper divorce proceeding. It is important to note that the party first submitting its claims to a court convenient to it will hold a significant advantage from the beginning of the proceedings.
Navigating the ‘Race of Powers’ in Divorce: Insights from a Divorce Attorney in Israel
Much has been said about the law that requires couples to go through mediation, but few know that the race between the couple – to go to the family court or the rabbinical court, known in professional language as the ‘race of powers’ – has not stopped. Regardless of the mediation procedure, if the procedure explodes, and unfortunately in most cases it does not succeed, the divorce battle will go to a court decided by the person who first filed his dispute with accordance to the Family Dispute Settlement Law (Temporary Order), 2014. If the husband was first to submit the request for dispute resolution, b then he will decide where the divorce process will be conducted and vice versa.
By the way, despite the prevailing stigma, it is not always worthwhile for a man to go to the rabbinical court and it is not always worthwhile for a woman to go to the family court – it all depends on the circumstances. For example, only the rabbinical court can prevent the husband from taking the wife out of the house; This action is called a ‘specific section order’ and is worthwhile for women in many cases (the order is rarely given to men as well).
The rabbinical court may also award alimony to a woman. That is, the husband will be charged a monthly fee, in addition to child support, to take care of the standard of living of his wife who was accustomed to it before the conflict began. Sometimes these are high amounts paid to the wife every month until the husband gives her a divorce.
It should be remembered that if the husband precedes the wife in appeals, he can prevent her from accessing the family’s income-producing assets, such as the business, in which the husband usually serves as a key figure (and I am of course generalizing here. Not all family businesses are male-dominated, especially in our times). There is also a danger of property smuggling by the husband, an action that the wife will have a hard time preventing if she does not prepare well and in advance for the day after the start of the divorce battle.
If the husband is the initiator, he will also be able to withdraw many funds from the joint bank accounts in one day and in fact financially paralyze the wife and vice versa: if the wife is the initiator, then she too can withdraw funds and financially paralyze the husband. Although these funds will eventually be repaid, but until then, the economic paralysis could impair the ability to legally deal with the divorce proceedings. Therefore, if you are considering the idea of divorce, you should hurry and consult a family lawyer ahead of time about your rights and the tactics recommended for you.
