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Arbitration, An Adversarial Alternative to Court Litigation
When You Cannot Resolve the Divorce on Your Own
Occasionally, spouses will not or cannot resolve all the issues necessary to dissolve their marriage using nonadversarial means such as divorce mediation or collaborative practice. Until recently, this meant resorting to and relying upon the court system, with its inherent inefficiencies and inequities, where cases frequently languished for months and years without resolution. Litigated cases did not conclude until being decided by a judge after a public, often humiliating, trial. This is, unless they were settled on the courthouse steps when one spouse could no longer endure the battle.
Fortunately, couples who cannot resolve the divorce on their own, now have an adversarial alternative to court litigation - binding arbitration. Binding arbitration is a private hearing process that allows spouses to choose who will decide their case, the rules and timetable for their hearing, the place for their hearing and the particular issues the arbitrator will decide. A husband and wife can limit the scope of the arbitration, for example, who will live in the house after the divorce is final, or give the arbitrator a broad range of issues to decide such as division of property, allocation of debts and alimony. By law, arbitration cannot decide child custody and child support.
Binding arbitration is still litigation and adversarial. However, it allows the divorcing couple to exercise some choice and control over their otherwise acrimonious and perhaps chaotic divorce. By choosing their own arbitrator, spouses can ensure the decision maker is competent, professional, experienced, and compassionate and has the interest and time to commit to their case. Binding arbitration gives each spouse, with or without legal counsel, the opportunity to tell their personal story and bring witnesses to testify in support of their position, in a forum that is private and less threatening than the courthouse.
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