If you and your spouse cannot reach an agreement regarding your divorce through mediation, arbitration allows you the opportunity to dissolve your marriage without the expense and hassle of a court trial. Even though arbitration doesn’t involve a court, you will still benefit from hiring a divorce lawyer for men to represent your interests during the dissolution of your marriage.
Hiring a divorce lawyer to represent you during your arbitration isn’t mandatory, but it is advised. If you and your partner have numerous assets to divvy up or differing opinions regarding factors like child support or custody, a divorce lawyer for men will prevent you from compromising your rights.
Spousal relationships that have become adversarial can also benefit from the expertise of skilled divorce lawyers. A legal professional can act as a go-between for you and your spouse and offer objective insight into your disagreements.
Protect Yourself
Sometimes men are hesitant to hire lawyers to handle their interests in a divorce arbitration because they believe needing help from a third party reflects poorly on them. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as choosing to work with a skilled arbitration lawyer throughout your divorce is one of the wisest things you can do to protect your assets.
Even though Texas has relatively strict laws regarding the division of assets following a divorce, if your partner is vindictive and chooses to use a lawyer, you could end up with an unfair outcome. Being unrepresented increases the chance that you could end up unhappy with the result of your arbitration, so you’ll want to find an experienced divorce attorney to handle your case.
Arbitration: What You Need to Know
Arbitration and mediation are often confused, but they are not the same. At the same time, arbitration and mediation do share some similarities, such as allowing you to maintain your privacy and complete your divorce more quickly. During the arbitration, both spouses agree to hire an individual to act as an arbitrator. You and your spouse agree to honor the arbitrator’s decisions the same way you would a judge, which allows you to skip the hassle of going to court.
Arbitration is commonly used in business lawsuits and is rapidly gaining popularity as an alternative to a traditional court trial in divorce cases. The arbitrator is often a retired judge or lawyer paid hourly for the work they perform arbitrating your divorce. Your lawyer can recommend arbitrators, or you can find them yourself online.
The Process
The process of preparing for arbitration is similar to preparing for a court trial. Each party must present arguments and evidence to the arbitrator to support their request, and then the arbitrator will make a decision based on the information they are given.
Decision Permeance
Before you begin the arbitration process, it is essential to understand that although you are not having a traditional court trial, the outcome of a binding arbitration holds the same weight as a judge’s verdict. However, if you and your partner wish to have the option to object to the arbitration outcome, you can complete an unbinding arbitration. An unbinding arbitration allows either party to object to the decision and pursue a different result through a court trial.
Benefits of Arbitration:
Flexibility
In an arbitration, the presentation of the materials is done less formally than the presentation in a courtroom, and scheduling an arbitrator can typically be completed more quickly than a case can go to trial. Depending on where your trial is located, it could take up to a year to secure a court date. In situations where you need your divorce completed in a short amount of time, arbitrations provide you with flexibility that court trials cannot provide.
Lower Cost
The costs associated with preparing for divorce arbitration in Sugar Land, TX are usually lower than if you were to prepare for a court case. You will also save money on attorney fees because arbitrations are completed more quickly than traditional trials. While there are certain circumstances where an arbitration costs as much as a trial, that isn’t the standard for most people.
Impartiality
During the arbitration, both parties have a say in who is arbitrating their case. Your lawyers will be able to recommend individuals, but ultimately you and your partner can choose if you work with the individual they refer or not. If you have concerns about whether a court will be impartial regarding your situation, having a say in who determines the outcome of your case can help you feel more comfortable.
Privacy
If you or your partner are well-known public figures or simply wish to keep your affairs private, traditional trials can allow outsiders to learn details about your relationship that you don’t feel comfortable sharing. Since the arbitration resolution is kept private, information brought up during the trial will be confidential. The privacy associated with arbitration is one of the reasons why it is a method of filing for divorce often used by celebrities and political figures.
Using a lawyer during your arbitration is the best way to give yourself a fair shot at maintaining your rightful share of assets during a divorce. A divorce attorney will also be able to streamline the evidence collection portion of the arbitration and present your side in a favorable light.