In this process the parties may turn to the court to resolve their family law issues. One party may file an Application/Petition with the court and the other party files an Answer and Claim. There are generally numerous court appearances before a judge in case conferences, and settlement conferences and a pre-trial conference. There may also be motions where the Judge is asked to make an interim decision about an issue such as child or spousal support. There may be Examinations for Discovery where each party’s lawyer examines the other. All documents with respect to your case which are filed with the court are available to the public.

You and your lawyer are required to attend at all the scheduled court appearances. In the end, if you are unable to reach an agreement with your spouse, there is a trial where a judge hears the case and makes the final decision with respect to the issues that are unresolved. This is the most adversarial, most costly and most lengthy approach to resolving your family law issues

Some clients advise that they do not want to go to court but they are unable to use the collaborative family law process or mediation. This may be because a spouse has retained a lawyer who is not trained in Collaborative Family Law etc. In this case we may not file any court documents but rather will attempt to negotiate a settlement of all of the outstanding issues without referring to the court.