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Alternative Dispute Resolution, or ADR, encompasses several new and exciting ways of dealing with problems that in the past, could only be resolved through litigation. The two methods of ADR that apply to family law matters are Mediation and Arbitration. MEDIATIONMediation is a process whereby a trained and skilled mediator attempts to help individuals involved in a dispute to reach a settlement of their differences by agreement, instead of relying upon a decision imposed upon them by a 3rd party. The parties meet with the mediator and, with his or her help and guidance, arrive at a mutually satisfactory arrangement for ending their dispute. The agreement is then formalized by the mediator and, when necessary, presented to a court for ratification. The principle advantage of mediation over traditional litigation is the ability of the parties to control the process and the outcome of the process, as opposed to having a structure, rules and an outcome decided by others. It also has the added advantage of allowing otherwise adversarial parties to begin to work together, in a cooperative atmosphere, which in the long run can provide tremendous benefit for themselves and their children in a family law setting. Mediation often removes much of the expense of family law litigation, both economic and emotional, and can significantly shorten the time it would otherwise take to resolve their dispute. Although mediation can be an effective tool, it is not appropriate in every case. If there is a great disparity in the ability of the parties to freely discuss their wants and needs, or if there is a history of, or threat of future violence, or one side simply refuses to work toward a common goal, then mediation is not a good choice. ARBITRATIONArbitration is the second commonly used alternative dispute resolution tool in family law cases. Used frequently in commercial lawsuits for years, arbitration is the process where the parties to a dispute elect not to wait for the court to hear their case, and instead hire a private individual, an arbitrator, to do so. The results can be just as binding and effective as traditional litigation, but, because the parties select the arbitrator and can hurry along the process, an arbitration can be completed in far less time and with often far less expense that traditional lawsuits. A relatively recent addition to family law matters, arbitration may be the best choice in some situations. It cannot generally be used in some areas of family law, but we would more that happy to discuss these options with you, to see if your needs can be met other than by expensive, time-consuming and cumbersome traditional methods. |
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