Divorce is an ugly word and an even uglier time. But it is a very real part of many peoples lives today. My name is David S. Bouschor, II; I’m a board-certified family law lawyer.
The key question for many people, in time of divorce, is how does the divorce work? And how do I get it done? Unless you’ve been down the road before, this may be the first time that you’ve ever asked yourself this question. The short answer is that there is a process in getting you down the divorce road. And you have choices all along the way. The first choice or decision is the process that you want to follow in getting your divorce. You can use the litigation method or you can use the collaborative method. Both are recognized in the Texas Family Code. In litigation, the parties file pleadings with the court in an attempt to settle their case by working through their attorneys, using the rules of civil procedure, rules of evidence and other codes, to negotiate all the issues. If no settlement can be reached, the parties go before a judge, and the judge will make an order and finalize the case. In collaborative law, the parties file pleadings with the court to start their case. But then they and their attorneys enter into an agreement whereby they agree not to go before a judge. They enter into negotiations and they work on settling their case using third party neutrals, such as CPAs, communications coaches, and child specialists and ultimately come up with a settlement that they have crafted.
