Divorce Litigation – When Your Divorce Ends At A Trial! - Reynaldo Garza, III

Ideally, divorce attorneys would love to see every divorce end pre-trial through mediation, with the spouses able to compromise and agree on all of the important details to put forth an approvable agreement.

Unfortunately, some divorces end up in litigation for various reasons.

Though attorneys find that fewer than 10% of divorces in Texas progress to the courts, it does happen.

Noting this, divorce litigation lawyers advise that clients understand why and what happens in these circumstances to prepare for the possibility of a trial while trying to avoid one.

Why Do Some Divorces End With A Trial?

Considering that most divorces can be negotiated and settled without having to go to court, the reason some end up in a trial is due to an inability to come to an agreement.

When clients of divorce attorneys are unable to compromise on their issues to negotiate a suitable resolution, it creates a situation where someone else must decide for them.

Attorneys can usually help most spouses through mediation; however, in certain cases, highly emotional topics like child custody and support or financial issues like the distribution of marital wealth, require an outside opinion for the divorce to be finalized.

Litigation through the family court, where a judge and sometimes a jury will hear the case to make the decisions that the two spouses have been unable to on their own.

What Happens When Divorces Go To Litigation?

When divorce litigation lawyers head to court with their clients, this happens at the point where it is decided that the spouses cannot or will not negotiate on their own, either after failed mediation, a contested divorce, or other disagreements that hinder the process.

A divorce trial is just like any other court trial and requires the normal preparation that is done just like any other trial.

Attorneys and their clients must gather evidence to support their arguments and then present them to the court for consideration and decision.

Witnesses may be called to testify in these cases and each attorney will have a chance to question both spouses during the hearings as the two sides try to represent why the court should agree with them.

After hearing all evidence and witnesses, the court will then make what it feels is the best decision for the spouses in relation to their specific disagreements, putting them into the divorce decree within 120 days of the final day of trial.

Based on this process, it is important to understand that when a divorce goes to litigation, the process will be longer, possibly more stressful, and likely more expensive since there is much more work to be done to build and then present a case to the court.

Costs for divorce litigation lawyers, evidence gathering, court fees, and others, can add up, sometimes to the point of negating any financial gain that a spouse may hope for by refusing to negotiate in the first place.

How Can A Divorce Trial Be Avoided?

The key to avoiding a divorce trial is to understand how to settle before a case gets to that point.

It will require private discussion between the spouses to acknowledge their situation and start talking about resolutions, discussions between the spouses and their divorce attorneys, then negotiations between the two spouses and attorneys via impartial mediation.

For mediation to succeed, spouses must at least have the same goal to avoid litigation and somehow compromise to reach agreements, even on touchy issues, by trusting their lawyers to advise them.

An Experienced Divorce Litigation Lawyer Can Help In Difficult Divorce Cases

Divorce attorneys do everything they can to help their clients stay out of court, as long as those clients are willing to do what is necessary to avoid a trial.

In circumstances where it becomes impossible for spouses to agree, divorce litigation lawyers will prepare their clients for court and help them successfully present their cases.

When avoiding trial is not possible, an attorney experienced in divorce litigation is critical to the case.