What are the Biggest Challenges Associated With a High-Conflict Divorce?

High conflict divorces can be incredibly challenging for spouses in the Charlotte area. Putting aside the emotional and mental turmoil associated with this stressful period, a high conflict divorce can also impact your financial well-being. Furthermore, you may have to deal with this stressful situation for a considerable period of time, especially when you take into account the unique divorce laws in North Carolina.

Approaching a high conflict divorce is associated with a number of challenges. Although these challenges can seem quite daunting at times, there are many different strategies you can employ to make your life less stressful during this period. Your first priority should be to enlist the help of a qualified, experienced divorce attorney. When you rely on a legal professional with extensive knowledge of high conflict divorces, you can approach many of these challenges from a position of strength. Ideally, you should seek out an attorney who has experience with high conflict divorces.

A high conflict divorce is often influenced heavily by emotional factors. This emotional investment by both spouses is often one of the biggest challenges associated with high conflict divorces. While an emotional response is understandable, these factors can often cloud your judgment and prevent you from approaching your divorce in the best possible manner. Small issues can become overblown to almost ridiculous proportions, simply because neither spouse wants to back down. For example, spouses can engage in bitter struggles over who gets possession of the family pet or an expensive automobile.

Spouses may become combative for reasons that have nothing to do with their genuine financial or parental priorities. They may simply want to make the divorce as complex and as prolonged as possible because they feel insulted or hurt at the prospect of ending their marriage. These bitter spouses may do everything in their power to avoid convenient, stress-free options like mediation or a separation agreement. In order to overcome this challenge, your best option is to act in an emotionally detached manner. Disengage from your emotional response, and you can approach your divorce more effectively.

Another major challenge for spouses in North Carolina is the mandatory 12-month waiting period. All spouses must live separately for a period of at least a year before they can move forward with their divorce. While this one-year “cooling off” period might be little more than an inconvenience for some couples, it can become a nightmarish process for spouses dealing with a high conflict divorce.

During this one-year period, you may face all manner of insulting text messages, threatening voicemails, provoking emails, and more. That year can seem like an extremely long period of time when you are dealing with a vindictive, manipulative, or abusive spouse. Unfortunately, getting around this one-year period is almost impossible in the modern era. The North Carolina Senate is suggesting new legislation that would shorten this waiting period, but it is difficult to pass these new laws without bipartisan support.

High conflict divorces can become so contentious that they become safety concerns. If you are concerned about your own safety, there is no reason to simply sit back and accept it. You always have the freedom to file a restraining order against your former spouse, and this might be a good idea if you have faced genuine threats of violence or abuse. Your attorney can help you pursue this matter.

Many high conflict divorces end up going to trial, as neither spouse is likely to come to an agreement during the mediation process. During this trial, you can use your spouse’s combative behavior against them. If you have evidence of your spouse being abusive or threatening during the one-year waiting period (or at any other time, for that matter), you can present it to the court during the trial. This may damage their chances of receiving custody, and it can make you seem like the more legitimate and trustworthy spouse.

If you have been searching for a qualified, experienced divorce attorney in the Charlotte region who can assist you with your high conflict divorce, look no further than Arnold & Smith, PLLC. Thanks to a wealth of knowledge and experience with high conflict divorces, we can help you overcome the unique challenges associated with this process. We are familiar with a number of effective legal strategies that can help you overcome these hurdles, and we understand the unique factors at play. Reach out today, and we can start developing an effective action plan together.