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Divorce does strange things to people.

Smart people say things that make no sense.

Calm people do things they swore they never would.

Logical people suddenly make emotional decisions with permanent consequences.

Your judgment gets hijacked.

Your patience disappears.

Your future starts looking like a distant rumor.

And you start saying things that would sound ridiculous in any other part of life.

“I love her, but I cannot be with her.”

“I do not want him, but I do not want anybody else to have him either.”

“They do not care about the kids at all. They are just using them as leverage.”

“I do not care what I lose. I just want it over.”

Say those out loud slowly.

If someone said that about a job, a car, or a house, you would think they had lost their mind.

But in divorce, people nod like it makes sense.

It does not.

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The “Just Get Me Out” Trap

“I do not care what I lose. I just want it over.”

That sentence has cost people houses.

Retirement accounts.

Parenting time.

And years of regret.

Sometimes the other side drags things out hoping you will finally say it. Because once you do, your leverage is gone.

Your lawyer is not there to slow you down.

Your lawyer is there to protect you from making permanent decisions in a temporary emotional state.

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Divorce Is a Pressure Cooker

You are grieving.

You are angry.

You are scared.

You are tired.

All at the same time.

That is not a decision making environment. That is a fog machine.

So before you agree to something that will shape your life for the next decade, you need guardrails.

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Borrow Some Judgment

You do not need a crowd.

You need one or two people who are calm, rational, and not emotionally invested in your fight.

Not the friend who is still bitter about their three-year divorce.

Not the cousin who loves drama.

Not the person who wants you to burn everything down.

You need someone who can look at you and say, “That sounds good emotionally, but it is a terrible idea legally.”

And you need to actually listen.

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Lawyer Bill’s Advice

Divorce is not when you make your boldest decisions.

It is when you protect your future self from your present emotions.

Slow down.

Get perspective.

Borrow judgment.

Because bad divorce decisions feel confident.

Right up until they follow you for years.