Don’t Trust Divorce Information on the Internet

You should keep in mind that what you read on the internet may be right or may be completely Wrong. The cases and the new developments in the law that are listed on the internet are the one in ten thousand rare exception and may not apply to your particular case.

On a regular basis we have clients come into the office and many of our new clients seem to only know the exceptions to the rules and are not familiar with the rule. This is because of new stories. What makes the top news is not the rule.

For example, if thousands of cases are all resolving the same way, that is not news. That is not something that is going to be picked up by Google searchers. It is not something that is going to elicit a huge volume of texted, linked (in and out bound) and comments by news worthy sources. It is only the exceptions to the rule that will be subject to link, sharing, in and out bound, together with a large volume of traffic. Therefore, people who are searching for joint custody, unique child support problems, or even specific problems with respect to their case and their fact pattern, may only be getting the exceptions to the rule and not what “normally” occurs on a day to day basis in the courthouse.

Think about it, nobody reports on the day to day cases handled by a Judge or Court Commissioner. Nobody reports on the law that is practiced daily throughout Utah, to the same extent, that interest is generated on the exceptions to the rule. Therefore, rather than spending a huge amount of time searching for information about divorces (and often coming up with just the exceptions to the general rules) it is best to contact an attorney.

It is our opinion and our experience that the larger the firm, the greater amount of cases that a law firm will handle. Therefore, the law firm will have real and updated information concerning facts and circumstances affecting couples and children in that location.
Furthermore, it is important to note that when a case is “noteworthy” or “newsworthy” it is usually after the case has “lost” twice or more. Cases in the regular trial courts in Utah State – call the District Court – or sometimes referred to as the “family court” often do not make the news or are newsworthy. It is only after the attorney or the law firm loses the case, that it is appealed to the Utah Court of Appeals. Thereafter, it may be appealed again to the Utah Supreme Court. Then if the case is reversed, or the decision is different or unique, the decision will be noteworthy and it will be the one exception to the rule after an approximate three to five year legal battle and tens of thousands of dollars in costs and lawyer fees on both sides.

Do not be mistaken, although the court decisions will have precedence and may control future decisions, this takes years and there is usually a reason why the case that comes up first on the internet is different from the average, ordinary, and regular day to day case. It stands to reason that if there is one out of thousands and thousands of cases is newsworthy, your specific case has a very poor chance of fitting into the very exact same circumstances. Remember, facts matter. Your situation and the specific facts that have happened in your case matter more than you may realize.

When looking through various medical websites people often see signs and symptoms that they personalize and feel are applicable to themselves. When looking through the internet, people see just a sampling of the law and the practice of attorneys in family law. That sampling is not representative of the average case. In fact, it is usually just the exception to the rule. A small amount of legal information is often worse than having a free consultation at our office.

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If you have a question about divorce law or if you need to start or defend against a divorce case in Utah call Ascent Law at (801) 676-5506. We will help you.