I would like my divorce to go smoothly, what advice can you give me?

Everyone wants their divorce to go smoothly; but it only takes one of the parties to make a divorce acrimonious. With that in mind, you can certainly make the divorce go smoother from your end if you are forthright with your attorney about your assets, income, liabilities, debts and goals. The divorce process is a highly emotional process; however, when it comes to the financial portion of the divorce, in order to obtain the best results, it is necessary to set your emotions aside and to develop a strategy to reach your goals. Communicate and participate. Disclose your assets, income, liabilities and debts. Produce any required documents to your attorneys. Discuss your goals and develop a strategy to reach those goals with your attorneys. Call your friends — and not your attorneys — when you want to vent about your spouse. The only way to avoid going to court is to resolve all issues by agreement. This means full disclosure, producing any required documents, and, most likely, communicating with your spouse to reach an amicable settlement. This does not rule out negotiations by the attorneys; however, you should be ready to compromise and concede on issues if your goal is to avoid court.

Jamie Ryan has practiced exclusively in the area of family law since the inception of her legal career. She is a lawyer with Botti Marinaccio Ltd. and has broad experience in areas involving custody, visitation, removal, parentage, maintenance, child support, qualified domestic relations orders, and complex business valuation issues.