Divorce is painful enough without an added requirement to open your heart to a total stranger. But leaving your lawyer in the dark about important facts of your spousal relationship is a risky strategy.
If the reason your spouse no longer wants to have marital relations with you is because you caught a venereal disease from an extra-marital relationship, this is not something your lawyer should find out four months into the case.
Many people instinctively cover up bad or illegal conduct by their spouse, even a spouse they are in the process of divorcing, perhaps out of a misplaced sense of shared guilt or embarrassment that they were married to such a vicious scoundrel. Don’t give in to the temptation to make excuses for your spouse’s bad behavior or blame only yourself for his or her transgressions. If your spouse has abused your children, or assaulted you, or robbed your neighbor, you need to be up-front with your lawyer about this.
When you make a statement or present written information to a judge, make sure it is completely accurate to the best of your ability. If a judge discovers you lied to him, the repercussions can be severe! And once a judge has made a decision after weighing the arguments of both sides, it is usually wasted effort to try to get that decision overturned by suddenly “remembering” a material fact or figure.
By the same token, it is useless to expect your lying, cheating spouse suddenly to become a paragon of virtue once the divorce process begins. You should resist the temptation to counter his or her lies with lies and misrepresentations of your own. Present your case honestly and completely, and trust your lawyer and the judge to see through the prevarications at the other side of the table. Keep a professional demeanor at all times, and avoid gratuitous insults.
Based in Shelton, Connecticut, Hirsch Legal, LLC represents clients in Upper Fairfield County, Connecticut (Bridgeport, Stratford, Shelton, Trumbull, Monroe, Newtown, Brookfield, Danbury, Fairfield) and New Haven County, Connecticut (Milford, Orange, Woodbridge, Bethany, West Haven, New Haven, Hamden, Oxford, Seymour, Ansonia, Derby, Waterbury, Bethany).
We look forward to speaking with you about your case. Call today!