Only a court can grant a divorce. A court can also decide issues of custody and parenting time, alimony and child support, the distribution of property, as well as other claims incident to the dissolution of a marriage. However, a court need not decide these issues as the parties themselves have the power to resolve them–and in the vast majority of cases, they do. Often the parties are able to settle their financial and custodial issues whether with or without the assistance of counsel, during the course of an ongoing litigation process. However, in recent years there has been a growing acceptance of dispute resolution methods, whether as an alternative to conventional litigation or as a compliment with respect thereto, to assist parties to resolve their marital issues. Continue reading ›
Articles Tagged with alternative dispute resolution
AND MEDIATION FOR ALL (ALMOST)
Last week, we wrote a blog post discussing the New Jersey Supreme Court’s recent enactment of Rule 5:1-5 which sets forth standards and procedures governing the arbitration of divorce matters. The Supreme Court codified recent case law which had addressed questions arising over the parties’ use of the arbitration process to resolve issues related to their divorce proceeding, rather than continuing to pursue litigation through the court system and having a judge decide the issues in their case. In so doing, the Supreme Court was furthering the policy that has evolved in recent years encouraging the use of complimentary or alternative dispute resolution (ADR) proceedings as a means to help parties settle cases and/or divert cases from a growingly overburdened judicial system. Continue reading ›
Alternative Dispute Resolution: A Changing Landscape
It is not always commonplace for case law in the State of New Jersey to come down in quick succession that will totally change the landscape of an area of law. However, that is just what has happened with regards to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) thanks to the recent decisions handed down by the Supreme Court of New Jersey and the Appellate Division in the past two (2) months. Continue reading ›
Getting Started With a New Jersey Divorce
The process of deciding and moving towards a divorce is a vexing and stressful time for anyone. We ask our friends and families questions: some stupid, some obvious, others befuddling and perplexing about what we should do when our marriage is not going as we had hoped or planned. Continue reading ›