Navigating a Difficult Divorce

Legal Advice from an Experienced Rhode Island Divorce Attorney:

While no divorce is easy, some divorces are more difficult than others, such as those involving:

  • A partner who won't negotiate, who lies or hides assets, who plays games with children, who refuses to respond, and even refuses to win!
  • Opposing legal counsel who blusters, demands, and stands in the way of a resolution
  • Family, friends and in-laws who continually offer bad advice
  • Bad circumstances, such as a job loss, an underwater mortgage, title problems, and debts

Warwick divorce attorney Kerry I. Rafanelli has been helping clients arrive safely on the other side of a divorce for more than 30 years. In that time he's seen every kind of complication. While there is no magic wand to make every problem go away there is a way to get through to the other side.

Regardless of the difficulties you face, Attorney Rafanelli will be there for you, standing by your side and fighting to protect your rights. Call his East Greenwich law office at 401-398-8388 to talk about the divorce challenges you may soon be facing.

Divorce difficulties

The most common areas of divorce difficulty are, not surprisingly, difficult personalities, money and children.

Child Custody – One of the worst child custody situations is when one parent pits the child against the other parent or brings false charges of child abuse. There are several things we can do in such cases:

  • The first is to ask for the child to be examined – alone and with both parents – by an independent child psychologist. A good child psychologist will be able to identify improper parental control and this information will make it into the court record. We can also talk to teachers, daycare providers and others who may have seen the bad effects of the manipulative behavior.
  • The court can also appoint a guardian ad litem (GAL) to investigate and represent the interests of the child in court. As an impartial adult, there is much less chance that the parent will be able to improperly influence the GAL.
  • We can also ask the judge to have an in camera interview with the child, talking to the child alone in his/her chambers, away from the influence of the parents.

Money and Marital Assets – People show their true colors when money is at stake. Lying about income, hiding assets, refusing to fill out divorce forms correctly, these are just some of the ways a dishonest spouse can try to gain the upper hand. But there are a several tools that can help the court arrive at the truth:

  • Your lawyer can subpoena tax records and business documents
  • We can depose business partners, tax accountants and others who may know the real financial picture
  • We can hire a forensic accountant to review business records to see if everything adds up
  • We can hire someone to do surveillance if you think assets are being squirreled away in another location

We'll do what we need to do to turn up missing assets. And when we do, the party who tried to lie and hide those assets could end up losing much more.

Difficult Personalities – It's an unfortunate truth that the people who can hurt us most are the people we've loved the most. It may be your former partner's strategy to get under your skin with unreasonable demands for more than his/her share of the assets, or even physical threats.

Do not engage in game playing. Trust your lawyer to run interference with a demanding ex-spouse. Your lawyer will make sure all the evidence gets heard in court so the judge can weigh the relevant facts, without the attitude.

Learn more about divorce in Rhode Island

No matter how many barriers and roadblocks your former partner throws up, there is an end in sight and attorney Rafanelli will get you there. Call Kerry Rafanelli at 401-398-8388, or contact us online to schedule a consultation at our North Kingston law office.