Divorce is a challenging process, and the stakes are higher when high-value assets, children, and conflict are involved. Divorces that involve substantial assets or conflicts are considered complex divorces, and settling a complex divorce is often more difficult and lengthier overall. An experienced attorney will work to help you settle a complex divorce favorably and make this process less stressful.

What Is a Complex Divorce?

Complex divorces are those that involve high-value assets and high-value net worths, in addition to divorces with significant conflict and issues settling agreements, such as child custody arrangements. Complex divorces may deal with assets subject to various Texas tax and property division laws, which makes having an experienced divorce attorney in your corner all the more important as you divide property and assets.

Issues that tend to make a divorce complex include:

Divorce is difficult enough, but when couples do not see eye to eye, it becomes a contested divorce. Sometimes a history of abuse can make it difficult to have a straightforward divorce. Perhaps the couple does not agree on all the important aspects of the divorce, such as who gets custody of the children or how property should be divided. In these cases, each spouse should get their own Texas contested divorce attorney to represent their interests.

What is the Process in a Contested Divorce?

If you are facing a contested divorce in Texas, you need an attorney who can stand up for your rights in a contested courtroom process while also offering unwavering and caring support throughout the ordeal. Here are some things to keep in mind as you seek the help of legal counsel:

• Gathering financial evidence – In any successful court case, having strong evidence is crucial. Our lawyers work closely with their clients to thoroughly examine financial information that could impact the division of shared property or calculations for spousal support. We also make sure that cherished personal belongings stay with our clients even after the divorce is finalized.
• Prioritizing the children's best interests – A contested divorce can be tough on the children involved. Our attorneys have the empathy and insight needed to ensure that the children affected by the divorce are considered and protected under the child custody arrangement that results.
• Negotiating before going to court – If you and your spouse cannot agree during mediation, you will head to trial.

 Even if divorcing couples cannot agree on the terms of their separation, Texas law encourages all of the parties involved to try to reach agreements about property division and child-related matters before going to court. It can benefit the whole family when spouses have control over their futures by negotiating and settling issues.

Even under the best of circumstances, with both spouses agreeing that the marriage is over, as well as agreeing on custody and financial issues, divorce can still be difficult. When a person is divorcing a narcissist, those difficulties are more complex and often end up turning into a high-conflict divorce.

High-conflict divorces are notoriously more expensive, long, and drawn-out as the narcissist turns the process into an emotional and financial roller coaster, refusing to cooperate and putting up roadblocks to a peaceful resolution every step of the way. The divorce process is often the last breath of control the narcissist spouse has on the other spouse and he or she may hold onto that control until the very end.

Mental Health Impact

Tragically, there is an enormous emotional impact that a high-conflict divorce has on not only the spouse but also the children. Everyone can suffer from greater levels of anxiety and depression as the narcissist bombards their family with anger, disrespectful communication, and refusal to cooperate in any type of meaningful negotiation.

One of the most overlooked financial areas for people who are in the process of getting divorced is estate planning. Most people become so focused on child custody, child support, spousal support, and division of assets, that drawing up a new estate plan gets lost way down on the bottom of their to-do list. But failing to update or create a new estate plan can be disastrous for your family should something happen to you.

Beneficiary Designations

There are likely multiple places where you have chosen your now ex-spouse as the beneficiary, including annuity funds, pensions, IRAs, life insurance policies, and other financial accounts. Although some of these accounts may have been involved in the divorce asset distribution and no longer have your ex’s name as beneficiary, other documents, like life insurance policies, will need to be changed. There have been many cases where a person has failed to change the beneficiary, remarried, and passed away, and had funds go to their ex-spouse, not their current spouse.

Wills

If you have a will in place that leaves everything to your ex, you will want to make sure to have a new will drawn up with new heirs. If you named your spouse as executor of your estate, make sure to change that, as well.

When a person is going through a divorce, there are myriad emotions they can find themselves dealing with. A person may feel a sense of relief and freedom that they are finally free of a negative and toxic relationship one day and the next feel sad and lonely that they no longer have a partner to deal with life with, even if the relationship was a rocky one.

In today’s world, social media has become an integral part of many people’s lives and all of those roller-coaster emotions are often shared on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media accounts. Unfortunately, all that sharing can have a significant impact on issues that need to be decided by the court, such as child custody, spousal support, and more. In fact, in one major survey of divorce attorneys, more than 80 percent of lawyers said that they use social media to dig for evidence against their clients’ spouses. The following are some of the ways that social media posts can affect your divorce.

Child Custody

When divorcing parents cannot agree on how child custody and parenting time should be divided, the court will make that decision for them. This means both parties, usually through their attorneys, will present evidence and witness testimony to the court. The judge will decide what arrangement will be in the best interest of the child, based on that evidence.