If you do not do collaborative divorce, then the other option is court. In the event that you go to court, obviously the judge will be making your family decisions. That will mean that the judge, who doesn’t really know your what family priorities and your highest interests are, will be guiding your destiny for the rest of your life. So in a sense, you have less control out of the outcomes when you go to court. What you can expect when you file a divorce first is the court will issue restraining orders so that neither party will be permitted to dissipate the assets or change key beneficiary designations or remove the children from the jurisdiction of the court. There’ll be court orders that will protect both parties. And the court will then oversee the division of the assets and liabilities and the establishment of spousal support if reasonable and appropriate and child support if in the best interest to the children.
This will occur through a series of hearings, starting in many cases with temporary orders. A temporary order hearing or status conference will occur where the court will direct how the family will meet expenses and how the households of each party will be supported during the pendency of the divorce action. Then the court will set pre-trials and status conferences to assist the parties through their counsel or with assistance of counsel to get through the division of assets and the establishment of support.
In the court process there are opportunities to arrive at decisions and to settle issues along the way. And in fact, the court will urge you to make those agreements along the way so that the court won’t have to conduct a final hearing to divide assets and liabilities and establish support. Since that is going to happen through the court, it might make sense to try to enter into agreements and to do an out of court process to get those agreements made and to avoid the whole courtroom scene. That way you won’t hire counsel to litigate the issues and incur that expense.
Divorce and divorce-related situations is all we do here at Buck & Fish Ltd. We’re ready to help you today.
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