Unless you’ve been through the experience before, you probably don’t know what to expect in a divorce. However, even if you have been previously divorced, each one tends to be different. Depending on your particular situation, you will have several legal questions about divorce proceedings.

When you’re beginning the process to locate a divorce or family law attorney, you will have a number of questions to ask a divorce attorney. When there are children involved, you may, for example, want to know about parental rights for fathers as well as how to terminate parental rights.

You may be interested to know that in the United States, women are usually the ones that file for divorce. It has been found that they initiate two-thirds of all divorce cases.

On average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a first marriage that ends in divorce usually lasts for approximately eight years. When considering remarriage, however, women usually wait 3.1 years, while men will wait a bit longer at 3.3 years.

Rather than go to court, many couples choose mediation to work out a variety of details. This form of alternative dispute resolution involves a third-party, referred to as a mediator, that will guide the process. Mediation can be particularly helpful when discussing and resolving property division, child custody, child support, visitation, alimony, and other issues that are relevant to your specific situation.

When couples go to court to resolve issues such as child or spousal support, court-mandated and prescribed plans can often be quite inflexible. This is one of several reasons why mediation may be the better choice to resolve any issues. When a parental rights lawyer assists you with mediation, this collaborative approach can be considerably more effective with creative problem solving.

When considering child support, you may be interested to know that in October 2013, there were approximately 14.4 million parents that had custody of their children. The U.S Census Bureau’s Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2011 report stated that approximately 48.6% of these custodial parents had either a legal or an informal child support agreement.

Whether the amount of child support is determined in court or through an informal agreement, 62.3% is child support owed is usually forthcoming. On average, this amounts to approximately $311 a month. Depending on the situation, however, the amount paid and received may be higher or lower.

Unfortunately, not all parents comply with child support agreements. In 2011 alone, non-custodial parents owed roughly $37.9 billion. The average monthly amount they were expected to pay was $500.

It is understandable that you may be concerned with what to expect in a divorce. This may be the case even when your divorce is amicable and mutual. This can be a challenging time mentally and emotionally, so when you locate an affordable divorce lawyer to begin the process, be sure to ask them what to expect in a divorce.