Law 531 Litigation Paper

Traditional litigation is typically used in most divorce processes. Each participating party will hire lawyers whom will provide unbiased legal advise as well as represent their clients in any required court hearings or among negotiation meetings with other participating parties. An example of traditional litigation is adversarial, which is when lawyers will take into consideration their clients personal wants and viewpoints and appoints positions accordingly. Also, both parties communicate with each others through their lawyers rather than directly to each other.

The process may involve the use of formal legal procedures, known as "discovery," to obtain financial and other relevant information. Discovery may include the use of depositions (a formal taking of testimony before a court reporter) and the subpoenaing of documents or other material believed to be relevant to the issues.


Each party may also hire experts to support their positions. These experts may include psychologists, real estate and personal property appraisers, business valuation specialists, accountants and others.

Most litigation divorces are eventually settled, but substantial time, money and emotion has been spent in the meantime. In addition, parties often find later that they are dissatisfied with the outcome. They are likely to return to court in the future to change the outcome or resolve disputes ("Traditional Litigation", 2008).

Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR is a process collection used to reach an agreement over a conflict or dispute in an informal and confidential way as to keep all parties business and information private. Grievances and complaints serve as alternatives to traditional forms of litigation but cannot replace the offerings of traditional processes.

Among the many reasons to use ADR is that is avoids the chance of unpredictability involved when some decisions are implemented as a direct result of traditional litigation. Next, ADR helps both parties reach...