A contested divorce is when the husband and wife cannot agree on spouse support, child support, child custody issues, or other divorce disagreements.

Some people when divorcing have been hurt so much emotionally, that they feel whatever the costs that they’re going to get even. And, sometimes a quick contested divorce is simply filed out of spite and as a means of making the other spouse suffer. In some cases the ruling judge will recognize this fact and simply throw the case out. But in other cases, while the suit is obviously punitive and trivial, there is enough evidence to force the suit to go forward. In the end, this serves no one really well except for the lawyers. If you are the emotionally injured party, the best thing to do is simply to cool off, make a rational decision, and go on with the rest of your life.

Frequently lost in all of the judicial proceedings is the wellbeing of the children. The damaging effects of an unstable marriage on kids have been documented for many years. But there are every bit as many detrimental effects on children from unstable or vindictive divorces. If a contested divorce increases the odds of your child becoming emotionally damaged and more prone to obedience problems, you have to ask yourself if all the fighting is worth it. As researches have repeatedly said, it’s not the divorce that causes the many problems found in kids whose parents were divorced, it’s the conflict, anger, and other problems arising from the divorce.

Even leaving apart the personal and family issues, the problems of a contested divorce are numerous. Depending upon the complexity of the law suit, it could be more than a year until your case even gets to trial. Is this time you have to waste? And remember that while this is going on, your legal bills are piling up and every thousand dollars that goes to the attorneys are another thousand dollars that you won’t be receiving. And in the end, you could very well lose the case and never get the justice you so passionately wanted.