Suzanne Griffiths Blog

I am a Denver Family Law Lawyer. Clients often wonder if there are times when divorce filings are more likely to happen. My experience shows that January and February are always busy with new filings. Many clients wait until after the holiday season, and filing for divorce is part of their New Year resolution. June and July are also extremely busy times when schools are out and examinations are completed. There are also many disputes over parenting time with the children for divorcing couples during the summer. Although I consult with a number of clients during November and December, most clients do not want to file their divorce cases before the holidays.

Long weekends and holidays always push up the divorce rate. One would think that families would find a great deal of happiness being together over holiday weekends. My experience is that the reverse happens. Being together creates extra stress and stress can lead to divorces.

In practice I take on a number of complex cases in March and April each year. Many clients underestimate the complexity of their situations and find the cheapest available attorney online in January to file their divorces. By March they are receiving large legal bills, and many are having a really bad experience with their divorces, as they discover that inexperienced divorce attorneys are not getting them the results they hoped for. At that point in time they suddenly realize that they are being out litigated and they start a search for divorce attorneys with significant experience and a history of handling difficult cases. I call those the big box cases and they are twice as difficult to handle, because strategic decisions have already been made that set them in a specific direction that cannot always be turned around or undone.

Downturns are popular times to file for business owners. 2016 is a very good time to file for oil and gas business owners. When poverty flies in the window love generally flies out of the door and many marriages break up during bad economic times. During good times, affairs often drive divorce decisions.

Whenever you do decide to end your relationship it is important to carefully investigate and evaluate your choice of attorney. Many family law attorneys are setting up practices with virtually no experience. The economic and non economic costs of being the learning experience for an attorney who has not been involved in many cases can be catastrophic for your family.