|
Alternatives to Litigation
The District
Courts of Collin County have a large volume of family law
disputes which come before the Courts for resolution. The issues
involved in this area of litigation include divorce,
modification and enforcement of prior orders affecting children.
Invariably these issues are highly emotional and cause life
changing events which result in the dissolution of marriages,
disruption of families, division of community property and
debts, and orders concerning possession and support of children.
There are many
cases which are filed in response to anger, hurt feelings or
pain without consideration of the long term results of
litigation. Those long term results include dissipation or
depletion of family resources, dissension among extended family
members, serious life style changes for children, feelings of
abandonment and alienation, and fracture of families.
You now have a
choice of using courtroom litigation, mediation or collaboration
to solve your problems. Your choice can promote a mature and
thoughtful settlement of the issues or an invitation to all out
war.
Mediation
is an informal process in which a neutral third party assists
the opposing parties to reach a voluntary, negotiated
resolution. In the mediation process you and your spouse or
former spouse would meet with a trained family law mediator. The
mediator would assist you in making your own decisions to settle
your differences. You may have a lawyer present to give you
legal advice throughout the mediation process. There are private
attorneys trained in mediation techniques as well as
non-attorneys who provide mediation services.
Each of these
alternatives allows parties to be in control of the outcome of
their divorce or modification suit. Each allows the parties to
be creative and work out an agreement in a manner which a Court
may not have the legal authority to do. When parties invoke the
power of the Judge to rule on their case, they are asking a
stranger to make final decisions on these very personal and
unique problems, rather than working together to come up with a
solution with which both can be satisfied.
When parents are
caught up in their own issues and best interests, their children
usually take a back seat; and many times they are used to
promote and accomplish the goals of the parents, rather than the
parents focusing on the needs of the children. When children are
used in this manner, parents may doom their children to a life
of litigation and conflict until they are adults. If only
parents could see what damage is done to their children when
they are caught in the crossfire of litigation and spite fights
by their parents. Please take the time to view a timely public
service video,
Kids in the Crossfire,
produced by the Texas Young Lawyers Association, which is sure
to give you pause before heading for battle or continuing to
battle over your children.
Please think
carefully about the choices available to you. Litigation is an
adversarial approach. It is very expensive, increases conflict
and many times proves devastating to the children involved. The
bad feelings from courtroom litigation can affect you and your
children the rest of your lives. On the other hand, mediation or
collaborative law can result in a settlement that is less
expensive, less traumatic and more creative. The choices you
make now can have an enormous immediate and long term effect on
you and your children. Choose wisely.
The
collaborative process utilizes lawyers and other
professionals trained in negotiations and family matters to
represent you and your spouse or former spouse only for the
purpose of helping you settle your case. These lawyers can never
go to court for you, except to finalize or close the case. They
will help you get the coaching and experts you need to reach an
agreement without the trauma of litigation. Their training and
expertise is used to solve problems, not fight. |
