Alternatives To The Traditional Divorce Case
A divorce is processed through the court system like any other civil case. Both spouses retain attorneys to represent them. One spouse, the “plaintiff,” files a complaint for divorce against the other spouse, the “defendant” who then files an answer to the complaint. The case is assigned to a superior court judge on a random basis. Judges certainly encourage attorneys and their clients to work cooperatively. But the court process is based upon an adversarial system, which pits the parties against each other as each attorney argues in favor of the client’s position. Consequently, divorce litigation is financially draining because of the amount of time and legal fees involved. It is emotionally draining, particularly since it is almost impossible for an attorney to give a client the peace of mind of knowing how the judge is going to rule on the points of contention between the parties.
Fortunately, there are alternatives to the adversarial court case. These alternatives seek to build a consensus between the parties on issues related to property, custody, and support. The first alternative is mediation. In divorce mediation, a neutral third party works with you and your spouse to identify issues on which you do not agree and to assist you and your spouse in coming to an agreement on all financial and child-related divorce issues. The neutral third party cannot give advice to either of you so it is quite common for each spouse to have an attorney present at mediation sessions.
The second alternative is the collaborative law process. Unlike mediation, the collaborative law process does not involve a neutral third party. Instead, you and your spouse each hire an attorney whose role is to assist you in going through each step of the collaborative process to come to an agreement on all divorce issues without going to court. The attorneys may bring other collaborative professionals including coaches, child specialists, and financial planners into the process for guidance and information.
You can learn more about the differences between the traditional court case, mediation, and the collaborative practice from the Comparison Of Divorce Options chart, created by Conneticut attorney Harold Brienes.
