Know Your 4 Options for Divorce 

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*Pro-Se

*Mediation

*Collaboration

*Litigation 

• Pro-Se: In Connecticut, where Mediation and Beyond is located, you are allowed to handle your own divorce without a mediator or an attorney. If you both are in agreement on all issues pertinent to your lives and your children’s, such as a parenting plan, finances, property settlement, child support, alimony, and allocation of debt, then this may be a good option for you. You have to decide if this is in your children’s best interest and your own to go it alone.

• Mediation: Not all attorneys are mediators and not all mediators are attorneys. Mediation, with the help of a professionally trained mediator, is where the parties seeking divorce are assisted by a neutral third party (mediator) to help them resolve any disputes through effective communication and negotiation techniques. The parties in mediation are crafting and designing all aspects of their future instead of leaving it up to a court to decide. At Mediation and Beyond we work as a team working with outside professionals, as needed, in order to secure a solid settlement, while avoiding the uncertainty of what a court may decide for you and your family. This approach is extremely cost effective, promotes less conflict and, more importantly leaves the parties knowing they worked together to secure a kinder future for their family and themselves. Mediation is also extremely effective in any post-divorce issues that may arise.

• Collaboration: Collaborative divorce is a process where each party in the divorce retains their own attorney and those attorneys agree to work toward a non-litigated divorce settlement. Clients in the process sign a “participation agreement” that basically states if the parties are unable to agree and decide to move forward with trying the case in court then the current attorneys involved disqualify themselves from representing the couple in any future litigation. This process works well if both parties are committed to having attorneys help them navigate a settlement. This is a more cost- effective choice than litigation but more costly than mediation.

• Litigation: Litigation is utilized in family court when both parties are unable to reach a settlement on all the issues that are involved in unfolding their family and marital lives. If the parties are unable to agree and reach a settlement in negotiations or pretrial sessions, then a contested hearing must be held by the court. Both parties will present their arguments and evidence (with an attorney or self-representation) and a judge will decide upon the issues at hand and render a decision in the near future. Only a small number of divorce cases, about 5% actually go to trial; trial is a last option, it is contentious and costly.

Divorce is never an easy decision. Knowledge is power. Call Mediation and Beyond to talk over your choices before you make a decision. Here to help.

Book your free virtual consultation today.