Getting a divorce can wreak havoc on one or both spouses emotions. No matter how you look at it, divorce can be very stressful and this can lead to volatile behavior and unfortunately, many spouses use less than honest tactics whether in revenge or to punish the other spouse.
A Fair Way Mediation would like to share some of the behaviors that can help you avoid falling prey to these tactics and situations.
Commonly Used Divorce Tricks
When feelings rule the day, many people lose sight of the potential harm to themselves in favor of hurting the other spouse. Surprisingly, many of these tactics don't appear to benef the spouse who uses them.
We always warn individuals going through a divorce to proceed with caution as not to respond emotionally to any poor conduct that is displayed. If you do lose control when these tactics persist can end up making your situation worse.
Causing Delays
When a spouse files many motions to delay the divorce process, they may be trying to harm you financially. Frequent delays will increase the costs of the overall divorce.
Making Accusations
When a spouse is bitter, they may try and attack your character by accusing you of harmful conduct, drug abuse, or even child abuse. However, an experienced divorce mediator will be able to recognize these accusations and help bring peace back to the situation.
Hiding Assets
One of the dirty tricks that happens most often in a divorce is hiding assets during the property division discussions. Fortunately, in today's world it's much easier to uncover these tactics, even more so with legal guidance.
But you must remember, watching out for these sneaky divorce tactics and tricks will not solve all of the divorce issues at hand. It may eliminate some, but it can certainly help if you are looking to end your marriage quickly and painlessly as possible.
Common Divorce Sneaky Tactics
Delay of Game
A husband or wife can drag out the divorce process indefinitely by filing motion after motion, filing requests for evidence and rescheduling hearings. By stalling out the divorce process the costs of the divorce will keep adding up in an effort to run their spouse dry until he or she has not choice but to finally agree to a settlement that may be unfair.
Pressure to Settle Quickly
When a husband or wife wnats their spouse to agree to a "fast" settlement they may be trying to hide something. It could be a tactic to force the spouse to cave under pressure or not allow one or the other time to do their due diligence. When the divorce is felt rushed there may be substantial assets that are hidden and one or the other may agree to far less than what is entitled.
Deny Access to Finances and Assets
Take for example stay-at-home moms who simply didn't have a chance or hand in the family finances and are completely in the dark as to what the overall estate has. As happens quite frequently, many women simply sign tax returns every year without reading them, which of course is in good faith that their partner is not pulling any sneaky moves.
Hide Assets
During the divorce process, hiding assets is a huge no-no. It is illegal and without a trained divorce mediator or divorce attorney, you will have no knowledge if your spouse is being unethical. This is more prevalent with finances when the spouse could be hoarding assets you never even knew existed.
Refusal to Relinquish Assets or Pay Court Ordered Support
When a spouse doesn't follow the court orders they are breaking the law, and unfortunately, often get away with it. This usually forces the spouse to incur large legal costs to squeeze out the money they are owed, even after the divorce is finalized. This can lead to time off work and other valuable time usages to sort through financial and legal matters.
About A Fair Way Divorce Mediation
For over 30 years, A Fair Way Mediation has been helping couples with relationship issues to negotiate a positive resolution to their issues. Our mediation experience includes success with domestic partnerships, traditional marriages, same sex marriages, military marriages, and alternative relationships. Our mediators are skilled in the technologies of virtual mediation and will guide you carefully through the process. Mediation works equally well for non-criminal disputes such as landlord tenant, family, and HOA issues. We have successfully mediated issues throughout Palm Springs, Riverside County and San Diego.
Our offerings include Zoom, Skype, video chat and in-person sessions. Mediation is a voluntary process and both parties in the relationship must be willing to try mediation. Our free 30-minute consultation with both parties involved, will help you decide if you want to try mediation. For a free evaluation, call us at760-227-5090or619-702-9174, or complete an online request. Offices in Coachella Valley and San Diego.
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