Email   Print   Share By E. Stephanie Hebert, Legal Assistance Office

Facebook Digg Delicious November 1, 2012 | Editorial

Does a judge know your children as well as you do? Of course not. Then why allow a judge to make decisions regarding your children when he or she has never met them? That’s what happens when parents refuse to make joint decisions, and instead force a judge to make those decisions during a divorce trial. Judges should only get involved when parents are incapable or unwilling to make joint decisions regarding their children’s futures.

Texas encourages the peaceful resolution of disputes through alternative dispute resolution. ADR allows parties to arbitrate, mediate and collaborate in order to resolve their legal disputes in an informal setting away from the courthouse. Most forms of ADR are completely voluntary, so the court cannot make you settle your case if you don’t want to. However, the parties are required to negotiate in good faith once they agree to engage in one of these informal settlement methods.

Mediation is conducted by an independent person whose job it is to encourage settlement in a private office setting. The mediator represents neither party to the litigation, but acts as a third party negotiator. Arbitration is an out-of-court experience as well, but the final decision is made by the arbitrator who may or may not have legal experience as a lawyer or a judge. Mediation and arbitration usually arise at the end of a lawsuit to settle the case just before trial. By comparison, the collaborative law process requires that the parties and their lawyers agree, from the very beginning of the case, that they will negotiate the issues as a group, without judicial involvement. If the parties elect to participate in collaboration, they, along with their lawyers, must sign a participation agreement that establishes the rules of the entire case. Because lawsuits are sometimes lawyer-driven, litigants pay exorbitant legal fees when they (or their lawyers) choose to fight. However, in the collaborative law process, the lawyers involved are prohibited from engaging in litigious behavior. Instead, everyone involved works together as a team to resolve the legal issues involving their property and children. Even if you decide to give collaboration a try, you can change your mind at anytime and terminate the collaborative law process. But you’ll have to get another lawyer because your attorney is disqualified from representing you any further. Talk about incentive to settle.

If you’d like more information about the collaborative law process, visit www.collablawtexas.com/the-collaborative-law-approach and watch the two videos of people who speak candidly about their participation in the collaborative law process.

As an alternative, you can schedule an appointment with a legal assistance attorney to learn more about the ADR process by calling the III Corps and Fort Hood Client Services Office at 287-7901.