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Forget Divorce Court -- As More Courts and Attorneys Embrace Mediation, Most Florida Divorces Never Make it to Court
from: Howard IkenWhen divorce attorney Howard Iken,
Tampa Bay speaks with new clients, the first thing they talk
about is "going to court." The reality is they will probably
never see the inside of a courtroom. The reason -- the
overwhelming majority settle at mediation.
Conjure up an image of divorce. The average person visualizes
people sitting in a courtroom, giving testimony, with a judge at
a bench presiding over everything. The reality of most divorces
is dramatically different. Forget high profile, exciting
confrontations in courtrooms built 50 years ago. The vast
majority of divorces in Florida are relatively boring exchanges
of paperwork and telephone calls. The extensive paperwork and
telephone calls all lead to one event -- mediation. With 95% of
cases settling at mediation, going to court is largely becoming
something obsolete.
In Florida, and in many states in the U.S., mediation is
becoming a mandatory step. And mediation appears to work. Howard
Iken, managing partner at
Tampa Bay, a divorce law practice in the Tampa Bay region,
observes over 95% of divorce cases settle by the time they get
to mediation. Of the 10% that do not settle by mediation,
approximately 9% settle some time before final trial. The bottom
line is that approximately 1 out of 100 divorce cases go through
the colorful confrontation that many people visualize. 99 out of
100 cases never make it to court.
The evidence that mediation works is overwhelming. Mediation
programs have sprung up all over Florida. In most if not all
Florida Counties, mediation is a mandatory step in all divorce
cases. Attorneys seem to embrace mediation. One potent indicator
of this is their pricing arrangement. Many attorneys now quote
fees that will take each client though mediation. Because of the
unsually high settlement rate, that fee normally takes care of
the entire case
Between the time a spouse files for divorce and the period most
cases settle, the legal action consists of very boring
paperwork, financial disclosure, punctuated by the occasional
phone call. The process rarely varies and the paperwork in each
case is similar if not the exact same. One spouse sends a
petition, the other sends an answer. Each spouse exchanges
financial affidavits, tax returns, paycheck stubs, and other
types of documentation. The attorneys act as paperwork mills,
churning and spinning out pounds of identical documents into the
postal system. Other than copies of documents filed with the
court, judges rarely get involved at this stage. All of the
documents, legal pleadings, notices, and forms, are oriented
toward getting to mediation, the final event in many divorces.
If the parties settle at mediation, and the statistics show most
do, one spouse will never see the inside of a courtroom. The
other spouse usually attends a short, 10 minute hearing that is
only a formality. A judge reviews the documents and signs off on
the divorce.
"Hurry up and then wait," divorce attorney Howard Iken tells his
clients. Most cases consist of tons of paperwork creation
followed by a long wait. The long wait is normally to allow the
opposing party time to create and send a similar pile of
paperwork. The routine sets the stage for mediation. The process
seems to work. The benefit: thousands of dollars in attorney
fees are saved. Money that could pay for rebuilt lives is not
diverted to the bank accounts of each attorney. Cases are
brought to an early end. And each party to the divorce ends up
having little or no contact with the court.
About the author:
Howard Iken is the founder and managing attorney. He represents
divorce clients in Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, New Port
Richey, Pinellas, Pasco, and Hernando County, Florida. For more
information, call his toll free number at 1-888-4My-Divorce
(1-888-469-3486). Get a free education on divorce issues by
visiting The Divorce
Center of Tampa Bay
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