The vast majority of divorces and other family law-related issues end up settling. In this article, I will discuss how a settlement can occur in mediation, collaborative law, and yes, even litigation.
- Mediation is a process in which two individuals must be ready, willing, and able participants to subject themselves to mediation. It involves a neutral party as a mediator, and that person may be an attorney — or not — who helps these two individuals resolve their differences. The key requirement is that there must be two willing participants. If only one is willing, mediation is not the right process.
- A more relatively new process to resolve a couple’s differences is collaborative law. In collaborative law, a person is represented by their own attorney. Central to the process is an agreement that the attorneys will not represent those same parties if the matter were to involve litigation. In the event that there is litigation, the parties would have to get new lawyers. The purpose of collaboration is to keep costs down and keep the pressure low. When people are not worried about going to court, they can communicate more openly.
- Last but not least, litigation usually involves judicial intervention, which means a judge gets assigned to a case, requires a court appearance and sets a timeline to follow. However, even with the process of litigation, a case can absolutely still settle. In fact, the vast majority of cases do settle, regardless of whether by way of mediation, collaboration, or litigation.
