A DIFFICULT PROCESS. The break-up of a marriage is almost always stressful. This is especially true when there are children affected by the impending change in the family unit. Although this is not always the case - there are those marriages where the parties mutually and gleefully decide to grow in different directions – most divorces involve at least one partner who regrets and laments the impending change. Stephen Ullrich understands the difficulties in trying to move two lives forward in a way neither spouse had originally intended, having struggled through the end of his own marriage (involving their 10 and 17 year old sons) in 2006 with hired legal counsel, and making personal mistakes along the way. As an attorney, Stephen did not initially aspire to make these difficult matters part of his legal practice – there seemed to be more upbeat ways to practice law! It was not until a close friend repeatedly asked him to assist with his uncontested divorce in early 2011, that Stephen took the time to learn the mechanics of legally dissolving a marriage – this was not a chore to be relished, but was undertaken with a high degree of compassion and some reluctance. Since that first awkward task in 2011 of assisting his friend through the legal maze of the marriage dissolution process, Stephen has continued to take on this difficult challenge on behalf of numerous other clients, blending the mechanics with compassion, tact and patience. Whether children are involved or not, Stephen attempts to make the process for his clients as devoid of rancor and regret as humanly possible, while still making sure that his clients understand their legal rights and obligations.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS. Before a client can intelligently decide how he or she would want to settle the multitude of issues between them and the other spouse, the client needs to first understand those rights and obligations. We will be sure that you understand not only the legal process of dissolving your marriage, but your rights and obligations affecting your spouse and the role of compassion and fairness necessary to a healing process of change. Only then can such important and irreversible decisions be made with confidence, peace of mind and a good heart and clear conscience.
NEVER “SHARE” ATTORNEYS. We encourage you to resist the temptation of trying to minimize the costs involved in many divorces by informally “splitting” or “sharing” one attorney for both spouses. The economic temptation of letting one spouse hire the attorney while the other spouse trusts or relies on the good faith performance of the soon to be alienated spouse and his or her legal counsel should be avoided. If you hire us, we cannot and will not try to provide legal advice to your soon to be divorced spouse. If we are retained by a client and the other spouse has not hired his or her own attorney, we will strongly encourage them to do so; we have found that this expedites the processes and keeps the discussions more amicable when the two lawyers can act as buffers regarding the more sensitive issues to be confronted by the two soon-to-be-parted spouses. A civil and courteous communication with the other spouse and their attorney is always a high priority when we agree to assist a client with this delicate and often painful process.
CALL FOR A FREE CONSULTATION ABOUT YOUR DIFFICULT DECISION. Call us for a free over the phone consultation about your difficult marital situation. You will learn something in the process, whether you retain us or not. Please remember that making this preliminary contact will not in itself create an attorney client relationship although anything you discuss or share during that call or visit will be treated as and remain confidential.