Married people often go to great lengths to avoid divorce. They may attempt individual counseling and couples therapy. They may have sit-down sessions with their pastor or minister. They may even turn to family members and friends for advice and guidance on how to repair their damaged marriage.
Eventually, many people reach the conclusion that their marriage is beyond repair and decide to file for divorce. Thousands of couples every year turn to the New Jersey family courts to end unhealthy and/or unhappy marital relationships. Many of those couples may utilize mediation services on their path toward divorce. The following are some of the reasons that many New Jersey couples choose mediation instead of traditional litigated divorce.
They need to divorce quickly
A contested or litigated divorce can take well over a year to complete. In some parts of New Jersey, there may not even be family court hearings available for litigated divorces due to a shortage of judges. Those who do not want to wait to present evidence in front of a judge or who are in a jurisdiction in which litigated divorce is not currently an option could use mediation to pursue a much faster uncontested divorce.
They want to keep things private
Perhaps one spouse filed for divorce because the other cheated, or maybe there are very complicated financial matters. People may not like having accusations about infidelity or substance abuse become part of the official court record, and they may not want disclosures about their personal finances made public either. Mediation, unlike litigation, is a confidential process. What couples discuss during mediation will not be subject to public disclosure, with the noteworthy exception of the agreement that they sign at the end of the process.
They have terms on which they cannot compromise
During a litigated divorce, a judge decides how to split property, whether one spouse has a financial responsibility to support the other and what happens with parental responsibilities as well. People have no way of knowing what the outcome will be because the judge’s discretion can have such a major impact on the final terms set for property division and other key issues in the divorce. Those who insist on securing specific terms will often have a much easier time doing so by attending mediation. They can compromise in some matters in order to secure the terms that matter the most to them and will ultimately have control over the outcome of the process.
Learning about why people choose divorce mediation in New Jersey can help people to take more thoughtful approaches to their own divorce processes.