Post divorce advice on maintaining a strong relationship with your children

On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Post divorce advice on maintaining a strong relationship with your children with the immense procedure!

Family Lawyer Houston: Every divorce, no matter how amicable, takes a strain on a family. You may be sitting at home and reading this blog post thinking, “My divorce will be the exception. Nothing but smooth sailing once the paperwork gets filed with the judge.” To that I would wish you the best, but it is unlikely that you and your spouse will be able to terminate your marriage and have no residual effects on your family at large. There are emotional and relational aspects to a divorce that even the most contentious and observant parent may overlook.

The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC see parents go through all different sorts of divorces in our representation of southeast Texas families. From our experience people come out a divorce shaken- no matter how strong you are as an individual and no matter how resilient your children are. This isn’t meant to scare you or to intimidate you. Rather, it is intended to impress upon you how critical it is for you to make sure you do everything possible to make sure your relationship with your children does not suffer after the divorce is finalized. There are some mistakes that we see parents make in cases that can make that goal more difficult to achieve.

Money is not a subject to discuss with your children

Divorce Lawyers Houston: No matter how angry, upset, hurt or bitter you are towards your ex spouse, the State of Texas, your ex-spouse’s attorney or the judge, discussing any of the proceedings with your children is not a winning tactic or even something appropriate to do. This goes doubly when it comes to the subject of money. You will undoubtedly be in a different position financially after a divorce is complete compared to where you were before the divorce began. Wherever you find yourself on the spectrum of wealth after the divorce, your children don’t really care. They want you to be their parent- not share angry details about what the divorce cost.

Perhaps the most frequent complaint we will hear from opposing attorneys even before the case is over is that our client is telling the children that a new pair of shoes, a trip to the beach or any other “luxury” is no longer possible because the client now has to pay child support. We make the same call on behalf of our clients when we hear the same thing coming from the mouth of an opposing party.

Even if your children are young they understand tone and context better than you might think. While it may be therapeutic for you to let it all out and share your thoughts and frustrations with someone regarding money, your children are not an appropriate outlet for this activity. There are lots and lots of people (many with the letters Ph.D. after their name) that would be happy to have you sit with them for a half hour and open up about the divorce. If you’re a church going individual your priest, pastor, etc. can offer the same type of service for free.

The bottom line is your kids want you in their lives and want the stability of knowing that things are going to be ok. Constantly raising the specter of financial gloom and doom around every corner will not help repair your relationship with the kids and will do nothing to put them at ease in the aftermath of a divorce.

Your ex-spouse is not a matter for discussion with your children

Family Attorney Houston: Piggy-backing off the prior piece of advice, your ex spouse is not your ex spouse to your children. That person is their mother and father. The children see this person in a much different light than you do most likely and they will not be happy to hear you speaking so badly of their other parent. For one, it is highly likely that your final decree of divorce bars you from speaking negatively about the other parent while in front of your children. This covers your family members as well, so Grandpa and Grandma can’t engage in the put downs while you sit in the corner and smile silently to yourself.

Again, the children may or may not be old enough to understand why it is that you and their other parent are no longer married. They are almost certainly old enough to understand the way you speak about another person. Be careful here. Your children look to you as their example of how to approach the world and relate to the other 7 billion persons that inhabit it. By speaking about your ex spouse in less than flattering terms you are indirectly giving them permission to do so with the people in their own lives. On a more basic level, you may be building up a resentment in your child towards you if they feel that you are being hostile or unfair towards their other parent.

Your children are not conduits for information about your ex-spouse

Divorce Attorneys in Houston: It’s normal to be a little nosy about your ex-spouse’s activities after you divorce them. After all, you have been married to them for some time and suddenly having them out of your life can be a shock to your system even if you wanted the divorce in the first place. The most direct means for you to learn what they’re up to is your children but I would advise against pumping them for intel on your former spouse. The same principles that apply to the prior two pieces of advice apply here as well. Again, your children don’t want to be put in the middle of the situation after the divorce any more than they wanted to be a part of the situation during the divorce. A simple “How’s your Mom doing?” is fine to ask but peppering them for information regarding a new boyfriend is inappropriate.

More advice on how to maintain a strong parent-child relationship is forthcoming

Houston Divorce Attorneys: As it happens with many topics written about on the blog for the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, there is more advice that I would like to share with you all than what was done today. Look for the second post detailing additional advice on relationship strengthening and rebuilding with your children after a divorce set to be posted tomorrow.

If you have any questions about this subject or anything else in the field of family law in Texas please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC to set up a free of charge consultation … Continue Reading