Family Law

The major thing that I am learning at Grayer & Dilday is that divorces are messy. Working with husbands and wives who are going through ugly divorces makes me appreciate my own marriage. For example, I was in court all day on Friday for a divorce case, which was highly contested. Certain assets had to be divided between the parties and the issue of health insurance and credit card debts where major sticking points. The other lawyer was playing hard ball for most of the day so a settlement was unlikely. I really enjoyed being in court and reading through depositions in order to zing the other side with a direct quote. Grayer felt I did a great job on Friday so he asked me to help prepare for a million dollar case that we are negotiating in a few weeks. Although we ended up settling the case by the end of the day, the animosity of the wife towards the husband was a chilling reminder of the ugliness of the divorce process. The division of assets and debts are things that you don't even worry about as you're living together. Taking out college loans for your children and buying property that you want to retire in; all have to be dissected under the scrutiny of two lawyers and a judge who gets the final decision if a compromise can't be reached. I didn't just learn a lot about family law last week but I learned a lot life as well. The experience made me want to run home, kiss my wife, and thank God that our relationship will never get to the point where separation is an option.