Breaking up with a spouse in Pennsylvania is undoubtedly a difficult event for an adult to experience. Still, just as adults can be negatively impacted by divorce, children can also experience the negative effects of divorce. Fortunately, parents can help to mitigate these negative effects in a couple of ways.
First, parents may want to be open about the divorce rather than trying to keep it a secret. The reality is that the children will find out about the marital breakup at some point, so it is best to be upfront about it early on and tackle it head-on. When informing children about a divorce, taking into consideration how old and mature they are to handle certain details is paramount.
Second, children who are going through divorce can benefit from being told that they are loved. In addition, parents may want to tell them that the divorce was not the children’s doing. This is a big deal for children who feel that they were somehow at fault in their parents’ marital dissolution.
Third, the parents can try to decide for themselves how they plan to handle child custody and visitation as well as other divorce matters. Many parents today are opting to resolve their divorce issues outside of court, which allows them to feel more in control of their marital breakups. However, if two people cannot see eye to eye on a particular divorce issue, they have no choice but to take the issue to a judge, who will make the final decision regarding it. In either scenario, an attorney in Pennsylvania will make sure that the client’s rights are protected during each stage of the divorce proceeding.