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The Importance of Witnesses in a Contested Divorce Case

Witnesses should never be underestimated in a divorce. Their testimony can change the course of the case. Hence they should be chosen very carefully in consultation with your Columbus GA divorce attorney. Strong witnesses can help you by bringing about a favorable judgment made on the basis of their testimonies in court.

There are mainly two types of witnesses:

• Fact witnesses – they testify to facts.
• Expert witnesses – they provide expert opinion on facts and help the court in resolving complex issues.

Your divorce attorney would be given a chance to interview all the witnesses and make his selection on the basis of his judgment regarding how strong the testimonies are. Depending on the issue witness is going to support, attorney can decide to keep him or remove him.

The witnesses can be from various backgrounds and largely depends on type of case, for example you can have a financial planner for complex financial matters, child psychologists and teachers for custody battles etc. For maximum effect of witnesses and their testimonies, divorce attorney has to decide the order in which witnesses would be presented in court.

Sometimes lay witnesses are very useful for your case. These are common people and not experts like your neighbor, teacher, friend etc. They testify for facts that they have first hand knowledge of. These people are fearless and usually are not intimidated by court proceedings. If you talk to lay witnesses they might volunteer to help you and testify on your behalf.

Many witnesses would have to be subpoenaed by your attorney to attend the court. Talk to these people personally and they will not feel that they are being forced to testify. Try to know if they have information and if their facts are right. Sometimes the entire episode can boomerang if they claim no knowledge in court for not wanting to be involved. Some willing witnesses would require subpoenas which can be submitted to employers so that they are allowed to come to court.

In custody battles you can request your attorney for a guardian ad litem who would represent your children only. Recommendations from a guardian ad litem can increase chances of a favorable outcome. The witnesses should be made accessible to this guardian. You and your divorce attorney should provide all assistance that guardian requires to make an evaluation.

In highly contested child custody battles you might have to use child psychologists as expert witnesses. Child psychologists are a resource that the court respects greatly and hence they are very valuable to a custody case. They can be very persuasive and assist the court in coming to a decision in your favor. Sometimes subpoenaing your spouse’s lover (if existing) can create waves in the court and case. This exerts lot of pressure on your spouse and is a tact that your attorney can consider.