Divorce lawyers rarely pay attention to them. Nor does the law. Yet, divorce has a profound impact on them. Who are they? Family friends and extended family members.
You will likely continue to see family members and friends at graduations, weddings, holidays, and other events. What happens in your divorce will likely affect your relationships with these important people in your lives. It may impact the participation at or the quality of family and social events and gatherings. It may impact who is available to help you and your children in the future.
If, for example, you rely on grandparents or other family members to help care for (or carpool) your children, is that something you wish to maintain? Ending a marriage does not need to mean that important relationships will end. Often, they can be preserved.
While these concerns may not be at the forefront of what you might be thinking in your divorce, and likely won't be raised or considered by most divorce lawyers because the law is silent on such matters, you probably don’t want to underestimate the importance of these relationships during your divorce.
Decisions you make while going through a divorce will impact those relationships in the future. Regardless of how odd it may seem to some, maintaining a working relationship with in-laws, other family members, and family friends happens all the time in divorce, and will usually be beneficial for you in the future.
Because the law is generally not all that concerned about maintaining relationships, conventional divorce lawyers are generally not well equipped to help you work with these types of relationships. In fact, many if not most divorce lawyers self-limit their services to addressing what can be enforced in court.
Some of the most powerful resolutions may not be legally enforceable. Divorce law (and other law) serves a good purpose, but it is not designed to help you maintain relationships. If you are thinking about divorce, consider what you can do to help maintain those relationships. And, consider selecting a divorce process that will help you transition in a manner that tries to address your goals and values for the multitude of relationships that are important to you.