What Are The Alternatives To A Contested Divorce?
While many divorces turn into a fight, yours doesn't have to be a battle. There are many options to resolve your divorce even if you hate your spouse. Using any of the following options can greatly reduce your stress and legal costs.
Collaborative Divorce
In a collaborative divorce, you work together with your spouse to agree on every single issue in your divorce. Your lawyers can help explain what you would be entitled to under the law and assist you in drawing up the final paperwork.
While a collaborative divorce may seem like an impossible task when you're divorcing over major disagreements, it can be done. All you need to do is that it's better for you to not have to pay a lawyer to fight in court, and you avoid the risk of a judge making a ruling that you absolutely hate.
Mediation
Mediation is a guided negotiation process. Like in a collaborative divorce, you and your spouse determine the final agreement.
The mediator never decides anything. Instead, their job is to help guide the discussion.
You will be allowed to express your feelings, but the mediator will help you do so in a constructive way that's focused on figuring out how to move forward. The mediator can also help break any deadlocks and suggest alternative solutions when you and your spouse are having trouble figuring out a way to move forward.
Arbitration
Arbitration is more like a trial because the arbitrator does make binding decisions, but it is a much more informal process. Because of this, the legal fees are usually lower, and you won't feel the emotional stress that comes with a protracted court battle.
When you choose arbitration, you are in control of the scope of the arbitration. You can use it to decide your entire divorce, or you can agree with your spouse on some issues and arbitrate the rest.
Principled Litigation
Principled litigation is founded on the principle that you don't have to get into a battle just because you're going before a judge. Reasonable people can disagree, and the role of a judge in principled litigation is to help provide a fair solution to the disagreement.
One of the main components of principled litigation is sharing information such as bank statements and property values. This greatly reduces your overall legal costs.
To learn more about your options in a divorce, contact a local family law attorney today. For more information, check out websites like http://www.carvajallaw.com/.
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