By Robin Roshkind, Esquire, West Palm Beach, Florida
You’ve filed and served divorce papers to your spouse. You’ve exchanged mandatory discovery documents for financial disclosure. You’ve been to mediation with your lawyer, your spouse and your spouse’ lawyer and no agreement was reached. Now it’s time to go to court.
If you were the judge, how would your rule? You have to put yourself in the chair of the judge and think about it. It is almost an out of body experience.
The judge sits there day in day out listening to lawyers argue the same thing: need and ability to pay for an award of alimony; what is in the best interests of the child for living arrangements and time sharing; bickering attorneys trying to get advance attorneys fees to prepare for trial; deposition testimony, witness testimony, charts, graphs, accounting. Judges have lots of discretion in the courtroom and impressions count. So does clarity, brevity, honesty, and candor.
That is where the skill of your lawyer shines through. He or she controls the flow of information to the judge one step at a time. He or she sets the mood and timing of the testimony. He or she tells the story, the where, who and why. He or she asks the court for relief and provides backup evidence that is admissible.
If you think you can do a trial by yourself, think again about what the judge requires and what skills set the lawyer has to get to the point. For more information consult with one of the attorneys at ROBIN ROSHKIND, P.A. at 561-835-9091 or click on the Firm’s web site at www.familylawwpb.com.
