There is a rush to custody and divorce filings in January
Research and call Portland Divorce Attorneys Ahead of the January Rush
For Immediate Need or Imminent Threat Situations Don’t Wait
Second, if you are going to need any sort of immediate court intervention, like obtaining temporary financial assistance, or getting an immediate court order for placement of the children, you may want to hire the family law attorney you have chosen before Christmas. The paperwork stage takes a short while for the attorney to get everything drafted correctly and accurately, so if you are going to need quick results, you should make that possible for your attorney to get for you by hiring them early, rather then holding off on the filing until after the New Year. If you don’t feel like you have any immediate rush to your proceedings this of course is less of a concern for you.
Finally, set your expectations appropriately. Just know going in that the beginning of the year is often a busy time for the family courts. Just like a line at a toy store in December you will have a slightly higher chance of having someone ahead of you in the courts during January. Meaning you may suffer a few short delays that you wouldn’t deal with if you filed at a less chaotic time of year, however this is something we have experienced year after year and we doubt many would know the difference other than us and we are happy to deal with this for you.
If you have kids and are going through a divorce or will be soon we put together 5 Articles about Helping Children with Holiday Changes after Divorce, you may be interested in reading it and finding some ways to help your children and yourself with the change: . You May also be interested in our series of articles about creating your custody plan throughout the year including one about holiday custody arrangements. In addition we have an article called 5 Tips for Surviving a Divorce or Custody Case During the Holidays that you may find useful. We hope these are helpful.