Maintain Your Standard of Living. You should also recognize that a divorce court cannot increase your salary to prevent your standard of living from declining once you divorce.  Unfortunately, from an economic standpoint, it is simply much cheaper for two people to live together and share expenses than it is to maintain two separate households.  Divorce will change your standard of living and there is little, if anything, the court can do about the change. 

Resolve Emotional Issues. Finally, a court will not be able to punish your ex-spouse or morally vindicate you for all of the bad things that happened while you were married.  Moreover, the divorce process will not heal your emotional wounds or even take away the necessity of grieving the failed relationship.  That is your job, although you can seek assistance through therapists and support groups.