How does the Litigation Process Typically Work?

1. Phase One: Separately, you and your spouse meet with your respective litigation attorneys who begin preparing for court immediately in an indeterminable series of meetings to prepare and file with the court:
   1. Summons and petition.
   2. Motions including temporary orders.
   3. Discovery and disclosure through interrogatories, depositions and subpoenas.
      1. During the litigation process you and/or your spouse may hire financial experts to support your positions with respect to:
         1. divorce financial planning to document marital and separate assets and liabilities, income and expense forecasts to determine need and/or ability to pay for spousal support puroposes.
         2. business and financial asset valuations.
         3. forensic accountants to perform transaction auditing and analytical procedures to:
            1. locate undisclosed or hidden assets.
            2. compute undisclosed or hidden income.
   4. Marital settlement agreement.
   5. Final judgement of divorce.
2. Phase Two: If you and your spouse can not reach agreement on an issue or issues, your attorneys will schedule a court hearing for the judge to rule on the issue(s). Your attorneys will follow proper judicial procedure including calling witnesses, prepare exhibits, ask questions of the opposing party, and tell the court why your request for specific orders should be granted, within specific procedural requirements.

Expect the entire litigation process to cost between $10,000 and $30,000 depending on the number of issues to be resolved and on the level of animosity between you and your spouse.

Would you like to arrange a free consultation to explore how litigation or other divorce options would work given your facts and circumstances? Yes