In negotiations, your family lawyer still advocates forcefully for your rights, but the case does not necessarily go to Court. Often, your lawyer and your ex-partner’s lawyer will negotiate through correspondence, the exchange of documents, telephone conferences, and four-way meetings.

If, through the negotiation process, you and your ex-partner manage to agree on a mutually acceptable resolution of all issues, a final settlement can be reached, and a Separation Agreement can be drawn up. Once it’s signed by you, your ex-partner, and both lawyers, the Separation Agreement becomes a legally binding contract setting out everything you and your former spouse have agreed to.

Settlement lawyers advocate for solutions, rather than the litigation lawyers who drive the court process. Settlement lawyers can add value to the process in order to see the case in terms of the personalities, rather than the problems.

Sometimes negotiations fall apart, and the parties go to Court. Other times, parties who have had a few Court appearances settle their cases through negotiations. Negotiation and Litigation are often used concurrently or consecutively; parties often go back and forth between the processes.