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Forget divorce court - most Florida divorces never make it to court
from: Howard IkenCopyright 2005 The Divorce Center P.A.
Conjure up an image of divorce. The average person visualizes
people sitting in a courtroom, giving testimony, with a judge at
a bench presiding over everything. But the actual reality of
most divorces is dramatically different. Forget high profile,
exciting confrontations in courtrooms that were built 50 years
ago. Most of the time, one or both spouses will never see the
inside of a courtroom. More often that not, one spouse attends a
short, 10 minute hearing. During the hearing a judge reviews a
mediated settlement agreement, previously negotiated by the
parties. If everything looks proper, the judge signs off on the
divorce.
The vast majority of divorces in Florida are relatively boring
exchanges of paperwork and telephone calls, rather than exciting
court action. The average divorce case consists of tons of
paperwork creation. The mountain of paperwork is interrupted by
long waiting periods. Those waiting periods allow the opposing
party time to create and send a similar pile of paperwork. The
legal action consists of repetitive paperwork, exchange of
financial documents, punctuated by the occasional phone call.
The process rarely varies and the paperwork in each case is
similar if not the exact same. One spouse sends a petition, the
other sends an answer. Each spouse exchanges financial
affidavits, tax returns, paycheck stubs, and other types of
documentation. The attorneys act as paperwork mills, churning
and spinning out pounds of identical documents into the postal
system. Copies of documents are filed with the court records
office. Judges rarely, if ever get involved at this stage. All
of the documents, legal pleadings, notices, and forms, are
oriented toward the mediation process. If mediation is
successful it is the final event in most divorces.
In Florida, and in many states in the U.S., the process of
mediation has become a mandatory step in a divorce. In the
Mediation meeting each party, their attorney, and a
neutral-unbiased mediator meet in a room. The mediator's job is
to negotiate an agreement that will cover all divorce issues. If
the parties come to an agreement, a contract is written by the
mediator and everyone signs the contract. At that moment in time
the divorce is virtually over. The written agreement is binding
and all parties must obey the terms. The only formality is to
have a judge sign the final judgment.
Mediation appears to work. Over 90% of divorce cases settle by
the time they get to mediation. Of the 10% that do not settle by
mediation, the majority settle some time before final trial. The
bottom line: only 1 out of 100 divorce cases go through the
colorful confrontation in a courtroom that many people visualize
or see on television. The vast majority, 99 out of 100 cases,
never make it to court. There is no doubt: mediation works. The
benefit: thousands of dollars in attorney fees are saved. Money
that could pay for rebuilt lives is not diverted to the bank
accounts of each attorney. Cases are brought to an early end.
And each party to the divorce ends up having little or no
contact with the court.
About the author:
Howard Iken is the founder and managing attorney of The Divorce
Center in Tampa Florida. For more information, call
1-888-469-3486 or visit http://www.18884MyDivorce.com
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