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Two Years in Divorce Litigation and Still No Settlement: What Finally Changed?
|Divorce litigation can develop its own momentum. Attorneys are hired, documents are exchanged, hearings are scheduled, and legal bills keep arriving. Yet months or even years into the process, some couples find themselves no closer to actually resolving their divorce.
That was the situation facing one Florida couple who had been litigating for more than two years. Despite all that time in the legal system, they had not completed financial affidavits, prepared financial schedules, or had meaningful settlement discussions.
Meanwhile, the spouses had become so polarized that they no longer wanted to speak to each other, let alone meet to discuss settlement.
Something had to change.
More Litigation Does Not Always Mean More Progress
Some divorce cases require litigation and court intervention. However, remaining in litigation simply because the process has already begun can become extremely expensive, both financially and emotionally.
As a case continues, each spouse may become increasingly committed to a particular position. Attorney fees accumulate. Communication deteriorates. The focus can gradually shift from finding workable solutions to prevailing over the other side.
Eventually, couples may feel they have invested too much time and money to change course, even when the current approach is getting them nowhere.
That is exactly when it may be worth asking a different question: Is the process helping resolve the divorce, or has it become another obstacle?
A Difficult Divorce Can Still Change Direction
For the couple described above, the turning point came when they learned about pre-suit mediation and mediation without attorneys, and they contacted Beth Reineke about her process.
At the onset of mediation, litigation was temporarily halted while the parties worked with Attorney/Mediator Beth Reineke to address the unresolved issues through mediation.
Because the spouses had become so polarized, they were not required to suddenly become cooperative or comfortable sitting across the table from one another. Beth conducted separate mediation sessions with each spouse as they worked through the issues that had stalled the case.
Ultimately, they settled.
Beth drafted the Marital Settlement Agreement for their attorneys to review with them. After revisions and signing, the couple divorced within about two weeks.
After more than two years of litigation, changing the process helped them find a way forward.
Experience Matters When a Divorce Has Become Complicated
Mediation is sometimes misunderstood as little more than helping two people communicate or compromise. In a complicated Florida divorce, effective mediation may require considerably more.
Attorney/Mediator Beth Reineke brings more than 30 years of family law experience to mediation. She is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator, was formerly Board Certified in Marital & Family Law, and has a background in finance and corporate law, among other types of law.
That experience can be particularly valuable when a divorce involves unresolved financial questions, incomplete disclosures, complicated settlement terms, or spouses who have already become entrenched in opposing positions.
Rather than simply facilitating a conversation, Beth helps couples identify the legal and financial issues that need to be resolved, understand their settlement alternatives, organize financial information, and work toward agreements that can actually move their divorce toward completion.
Why Pre-Suit Divorce Mediation Can Be the Better First Step
The couple in this example eventually used mediation to resolve a case that had already spent years in litigation. Other couples may have an opportunity to make that choice much earlier.
Pre-Suit Divorce Mediation allows spouses to work through the legal, financial, parenting, and practical issues involved in their divorce before filing a contested divorce lawsuit and hiring competing attorneys.
When both spouses are willing to participate in good faith, starting with an experienced Attorney/Mediator can provide the expertise needed to address difficult issues without automatically creating an adversarial court battle.
It can also provide a faster and significantly less expensive route to divorce than spending months or years litigating with two competing attorneys.
The goal is not to pretend divorce is easy. It is to choose a process designed to resolve the issues rather than escalate them.
Continue the Conversation
In Chapter 8 of Beth Reineke’s new book, Before the Battle: Choosing Peace Through Pre-Suit Mediation, titled “Mediation in Real Life,” Attorney/Mediator Beth Reineke discusses the real-world case of a couple who turned to mediation after more than two years of stalled divorce litigation.
Their experience illustrates an important point: even when a divorce has become deeply entrenched in litigation, it may not be too late to consider a different approach.
For a deeper discussion of this case and Pre-Suit Divorce Mediation, download your free copy of Before the Battle: Choosing Peace Through Pre-Suit Mediation from the Reineke Mediations website or purchase a hard copy on Amazon.
Contact Reineke Mediations at (813) 205-6675 to Discuss Whether Pre-Suit Divorce Mediation
If you are considering divorce and want to explore a process that may be faster, less expensive, and less adversarial than traditional litigation, contact Reineke Mediations at (813) 205-6675 or reach out online to discuss whether Pre-Suit Divorce Mediation may be the right legal process for you and your spouse during a free phone consultation.
