When most people think about divorce, many may picture a courtroom, a judge, and a decision. But this process is a long, costly, and discouraging one.
A typical contested divorce or child custody dispute doesn’t resolve in a few weeks or even a few months. In many cases, you’re looking at twelve to eighteen months, sometimes longer.
And during that time, your case moves through a series of stages that don’t always feel connected to actually solving the problem.
First, the case is filed. One party files a petition, and the other responds (and usually counter sues or counterclaims). That part is relatively quick.
Then come temporary orders. These are supposed to be short-term decisions about custody, parent-time, support, and use of property while the case is pending. But in practice, temporary orders often end up shaping the final outcome far more than people expect.
After that, the case enters what’s called discovery. This is where both sides exchange information—financial records, other documents, sometimes written questions (interrogatories). Discovery can take months. It can also become expensive, especially if the parties don’t agree on what information matters.
The court will require mediation before a case can go to trial. Mediation is an attempt to settle the case with the help of a neutral third party. Sometimes it works. Often, it doesn’t—especially if the parties don’t have a clear understanding of what their case is actually worth.
If mediation fails, the case moves toward trial. But getting to trial takes time. Currently, you wait months for your trial date after the date is selected and scheduled. Courts are busy. Judges and commissioners are handling hundreds of cases at once. Your case is important to you. To your judge, it’s one of hundreds pending at the same time (really).
While you’re waiting, you’re paying for legal work, dealing with uncertainty, and trying to make decisions that affect your finances and your children without a clear endpoint in sight. That’s the reality of the traditional process.
Now, there are reasons the system works this way. Some of them make sense. Many do not and persist on inertia.
If you’re at the beginning of this process, or even partway through it, the most important thing you can do is understand how it actually works, not how you think it works or feel it should work.
Once you understand that, you can start asking a more useful question:
Is this the only way to get to a resolution of your divorce case?
In the next piece, I’ll explain why many cases stall out in mediation—and what’s usually missing when that happens.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277