This week I've had an unbelievable number of inquiries from parties asking me about seeking enforcement or modification of various parts of their divorce Final Judgments. I'm not sure what is the reason for the number of calls other than perhaps that the economy is struggling so family finances for many may be tight. Also, school is out and summer travel and visitation plans are coming into focus. These elements may be acting to fuel what may already be strained parental relations. So I'm not sure what's behind it all but post-divorce disputes are certainly "in the air."
The extent of post-divorce disputes surprises some parties. In many cases, when a person gets divorced they think that once they have the final hearing, things are over for good. Sometimes this is true and sometimes it is waaaaaayyyyyy off base! When there's no minor child, no alimony, no child support, and relatively easy property division, then the final hearing really may be the end of things. However, when there are minor children, then ongoing issues often arise involving visitation, payment of child support, etc. Also, if there is an order to pay alimony, the disputes can be frequent and sometimes very heated. Let's face it, former spouses hate paying anything to their "ex." So parties are surprised and often frustrated that not only did they have to go through what may have been an expensive, nasty divorce but now they face a similar experience in the post-divorce stage as well. Regrettably, that is a reality from which there is little ability to avoid unless both parties go out of their way to accommodate each other and if they'd done that, maybe they wouldn't have gotten divorced in the first place!
For more information on divorce, visit www.linslawgroup.com
