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Avoiding Court
The best way to keep control of the costs and stress of divorce is to avoid court. Once you’re in court, your legal fees will mount quickly and so will the stress you experience.Basically, there are four options for avoiding court: negotiation, mediation, collaboration, and arbitration. Avoiding court is known as “alternative dispute resolution” or “ADR.”
Negotiation - Negotiation is the process of discussing issues arising from the breakdown of your marriage with a view to resolving them. An agreement is usually a compromise representing a modification of the original positions of the spouse. The negotiation can be done directly between you and your spouse, or between your lawyers.
Mediation - Divorce mediation is where you and your spouse, together with a mediator, discuss the issues raised by your separation or divorce, such as child custody, support and property division, to reach a resolution of these issues. The divorce mediator is a neutral third party who helps you and your spouse work towards a reasonable solution.
To learn more about mediation see:
Divorce and family mediation in Ontario, Canada
Mediation books
Mediate.ca - Mediation Resources
Collaboration - The defining characteristic of collaborative family law is that if the process breaks down, the lawyers can't represent the spouses in litigation. This means that the spouses must find new lawyers, and bring the new lawyers up to date with their divorce, which is an expensive process. This means that the lawyers lose their clients. So, in collaborative family law, there are strong financial incentives on both the divorcing spouse and their lawyers to try to resolve the issues involved without going to court.
To learn more about collaborative family law see:
Collaborative divorce in Ontario, Canada
No Court - Collaborative Family Law Group serving the Lower Mainland of British Columbia
Arbitration - Divorce arbitration is where an arbitrator makes a binding decision about the issues raised by your separation or divorce. The arbitrator is a neutral third party, and is normally a senior family law lawyer. Arbitration is a lot like a private court. The main advantages are the speed and confidentiality of the process.
To learn more about arbitration see:
Divorce arbitration in Ontario, Canada
