Privacy in Divorce?

Divorce is not only a very painful situation but it is also a very open situation when you are dealing with it in the court systems with lawyers. In San Luis Obispo County, when you finally get a court date established, you walk into the court room and sit with 20 or 30 other divorcing people, waiting for the judge to call your name. When called, you sit in front of the judge and air your laundry (dirty or not) in front of the judge and everyone else sitting in the courtroom. Nothing is private – it’s all out there for anyone and everyone to see and hear.

The beauty of using mediation is that it is confidential from the Court process. All your ‘laundry’ is aired in front of the mediator only. Both sides have an opportunity to share their wants/needs/desires and work toward a mutually satisfactory solution. When a solution is agreed upon, a stipulation or agreement is taken to the judge and he typically asks a few questions to make sure you are in agreement and signs the required paperwork. You are done and out of there! Mediation is often the fastest, most cost-effective way to dissolve a marriage in Five Cities area of SLO County.

In San Luis Obispo County, a typical divorce attorney hourly fees typically range from $200 – $400 per hour. If both parties retain a lawyer, they could be paying an average of $600 per hour resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in expenses. A friend of mine paid over $90,000 to his lawyer over the course of a three year divorce battle. The only person that won in that situation was the lawyer.

Don’t you owe it to yourself and your family to try California Arbitration Associates in Arroyo Grande first? We guarantee that you will save money over traditional litigation even if we can only partially resolve some of the issues.