When people start to think of getting divorced, many of them wonder whether it’s possible to get it done without litigation. Although only a few of them are ready to fulfill all requirements for a simple divorce and avoid long court hearings, couples still want to get a divorce as quickly as possible. But how common are uncontested divorces and what percentage of divorces are settled out of court? In this post, we’re going to shed light on these questions and explain how soon-to-be divorcees can fasten their marriage dissolution processes.
That is the question you probably want to know the most, and that’s not surprising: couples prefer to fall in the positive stats rather than the negative. The good news is that you’re not likely to be the couple who fights in court: according to various studies, only 2% to 10% of divorcing couples contest the terms of their divorce in the courtroom.
Thus, 90% to 98% manage to get divorced without throwing out their dirty laundry in front of the judge, their lawyers, and the whole world. They prefer to file for divorce without a lawyer and manage the dissolution of their marriage on their own. Below, you’ll find out why contested divorces are not worth your effort.
There are a lot of cons to starting litigation in the courtroom. Here, we gathered the most significant ones.
First of all, fighting over property, kids, or money in court causes a lot of stress. This is the situation where you have to express and defend yourself in front of people who don’t know you and reassure them that your position is genuine. At the same time, the need to make public some private aspects of your marriage like reasons for divorce (infidelity, abuse, etc.) is oftentimes hard to swallow for many people.
The next thing that has to hold you back from settling your divorce terms in court is finances. Contested divorces are some of the most expensive legal processes that you can go through. Hiring the best lawyers, filling out numerous papers, driving multiple times to attend court hearings, and missing your workdays due to them will cause losing a lot of money. The most frustrating part about it is that even proficient attorneys can’t guarantee the divorce results for you. Therefore, you’re just likely to spend a fortune without any certainty of the process outcome.
Another drawback of litigation is the amount of time you’ll be required to spend to get divorced. Your court hearings may be postponed several times; also, the periods between them may take up to a month or two. As you might have guessed, divorce cases may last for years without any moving forward, especially if either of the spouses doesn’t attend to them or does everything to complicate the process (e.g. hiding certain documents or facts from a judge).
Finally, no one can assure you that you get the results you long for after the litigation is over. A judge will take all the details into account when deciding on your divorce including spousal support, child visitation and care, and other important issues. However, you have to be aware of the fact that not all your claims will be satisfied in the end regardless of the amount of money you spend on an attorney’s service. Most of the time, the decision on children is made to realize their rights to the best care they can get from their parents. So if you want to take revenge on your husband and forbid him to meet your kids, you’ll hardly get lucky doing that in court.
That is the question. Below, you can find out what can be done to avoid litigation, expenditures, and energy losses and get divorced easier.
The first way to get divorced is by applying for mediation. In this case, you invite an independent individual equipped with specific knowledge on settling conflicts during a divorce to mediate your relations with your partner. Here, a mediator helps you to find a common language with your future ex regarding everything that will change after your divorce (real estate and place of living, support of your kids, money division, etc.) so that you won’t need to contest in the courtroom. Thus, you file for divorce only after you have a mutual agreement on all aspects of your post-divorce life and get your marriage dissolution decree fast.
Another way you can get divorced without court hearings is a DIY divorce. In case you’re in good relations with your spouse, you have to create a written settlement agreement where you outline how you will divide your money, house, and take care of your kids. Besides this, you’ll need to gather divorce papers on your own and submit them to the court. Depending on the waiting period set in your state, you can expect to get divorced in a few weeks to three months.
As you can see, getting divorced without litigation is a quite popular way to split up legally. Only up to 10% of couples who break up do that through a contested divorce procedure. Therefore, you have 9 out of 10 chances to terminate your marriage without fighting in court and getting stressed out because of it.
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