Options are generally nice to have.
So notes family law commentator Ann Buscho in a recent media piece penned for readers with more than a passing interest in the choices potentially available for ending a failed marriage.
It’s good to have more than one arrow in the quiver, so to speak, which is a point that Buscho duly stresses concerning an individual’s selected dissolution process. The path taken will have “a huge effect on how a divorce will go, how long it will take, how painful it will be, and how much it will cost.”
It merits quick noting that a would-be ex has multiple divorce-route choices in Florida. An established family law legal team with a deep well of client advocacy in divorce matters can provide guidance and representation in these mainstay processes:
- Litigated divorce in court overseen by a judge
- Collaborative divorce
- Mediated divorce
Any one of those processes might – or might not – comprise a best-route vehicle for an individual seeking to dissolve a marriage and start a fresh post-divorce life.
A court-overseen divorce is generally marked by some level – often heightened – of adversarialism, for example. As Buscho notes, it is a “high-conflict” endeavor that often features a win-lose outcome as far as fighting exes are concerned. Some divorcing couples see this judge-driven process as the only route for dissolving an embattled marriage.
Many other divorcing couples view things differently, though. For them, a mediated or collaborative decoupling is an option that can be profitably pursued in a generally civil vein.
The former alternative to litigation features a neutral facilitator that guides discussion while pursuing win-win outcomes. Conversely, spouses in a collaborative divorce each retain their own attorney and proceed similarly toward solutions that are mutually beneficial and marked by a couple’s autonomy over the process.
Divorce mediation and collaborative divorce often yield many advantages, including enhanced privacy and comparative savings in cost, time and energy relative to a litigated process. Understandably, divorcing parties often seek o retain a family law firm with certified mediators and proven collaborative law professionals.
