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| Traditionally, litigation is the method lawyers use to "settle" their clients' lawsuits. Divorces are no different. In the litigation process, lawyers and clients use the public courts to resolve issues that arise in their case and to ultimately let the judge make the final decision. |
It is an adversarial, formal process where the attorneys on each side "fight" against each other to achieve what their clients want. For example, the client may want temporary child support or other temporary support from their spouse during the pendency of the divorce. If the clients are litigating, the lawyer would request a temporary orders hearing in front of the judge. This entails presenting evidence and testimony to the judge who then decides the outcome. As one may expect, this method is very expensive. The lawyer must first gather information. Information about the other side's case is gathered through formal "discovery" which is sent to the opposing attorney through formal legal documents drafted by the client's attorney. After gathering the information, the lawyer must prepare for the hearing, draft necessary legal documents, and appear at the hearing. Then, after the temporary hearing, the case will need to be set for a trial, which is also extremely expensive to undertake. Depending on the court's docket (schedule), the trial may be set several months out after the initial request, and your matter will probably not go to trial on that setting, for any number of reasons (such as the unavailability of the Judge, an attorney, a major witness, or because the discovery has not been completed).
In litigation, the atmosphere is generally not conducive to settling the matter without court intervention, and any settlement is normally based on the parties' fear of litigation as opposed to the parties' legitimate interests and goals. This method may be especially appropriate in situations in which the spouses are extremely angry, abusive, or contentious with each other and one spouse controls most of the resources, decision making, or other power point of the marriage. The parties never have to communicate with each other or even see each other, unless in the courtroom. Again, the parties let the judge determine the outcome and terms of their divorce decree instead of working it out themselves. However, litigation is the most common way today of obtaining a divorce, and the attorneys at Hance & Wickham, P.C. practice litigation in their clients' cases every day.
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| Larry Hance is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Other attorneys are not certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. |
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