Marital Settlement Agreements
Once a couple has decided to end their marriage, if both parties are agreeable, they may contract to settle all of the property rights, support obligations, and child custody issues arising from their marriage. For instance, if you and your spouse are able to reach agreement on issues such as the division of assets, child custody and visitation, and other terms typically associated with a divorce proceeding, such as how tax returns will be filed, one of our San Diego divorce attorneys will draft a detailed agreement laying out each and every issue you and your spouse have agreed upon. After both parties have reviewed and approved the agreement, and made any necessary changes, both parties will sign the agreement and it will then be filed with the court. The Marital Settlement Agreement will then be adopted into a court order called a “judgment”.
There are a usually significant benefits to preparing and filing a Marital Settlement Agreement rather than litigating a case. First, settlement encourages the parties to maintain a positive and productive relationship where as litigation puts parties as adversaries. Second, settlement will cut down on attorney’s fees; taking a case to trial can be an expensive endeavor and usually minimally starts at $10,000 and goes up from there depending on the issues involved in the case, whether experts will testify, the length of trial, and so forth. Lastly, settlement agreements are more likely to guarantee a speedy result to a case, as opposed to the possibility of multiple court appearances over a series of months if the case is taken to trial.
The attorneys at Wilkinson & Finkbeiner, LLP are very familiar with the process of drafting marital settlement agreements. Our attorneys are known to work hard to ensure that each client receives the best possible result in their case. For more information or to set up your consultation, call our office at (619) 284-4113.