A worthless piece of paper

Your Divorce will end up on a piece of paper, either a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage being an judgment written by a Judge after a trial OR a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage incorporating a Marital Settlement Agreement being an agreement agreed to and sign by you and your spouse.

The point is, you need to be very aware of whether or not you can actually enforce what is written on that piece of paper.

For example, if your spouse agrees to pay a credit card debt in your name only and he or she does not pay it, can the Judge do anything to your spouse to make them actually pay it?

If it is alimony or child support they were suppose to pay and did not, the Judge can incarcerate your spouse (put hem in jail). That is enforcement.

But with regard to credit card debt, the Judge is basically powerless to enforce payment of it, and the Judge's options are limited. So, if you agreed to lower or no alimony in exchange for your spouse to pay your credit card debt, you are only receiving a piece of paper with ink on it, which is useless, if your spouse is not honorable and does not intend to pay that credit card debt.

Be careful. It is the job of your attorney to advise you whether what you are agreeing to or seeking from the Judge will actually be enforceable after it is ordered.

A piece of paper that is not enforceable is a waste of time and money. Do not fall into that trap as I have many consultations with former spouses where the damage is done because their Final Judgment, by not having adequate remedies when their spouse ignores it, is just a worthless piece of paper.