• With children, a divorce can't be granted before 6 months.
• Without children, a divorce can't be granted before 60 days.

Note: The 6-month period may be waived upon a proper showing of circumstances warranting same. Many times a case can go on much longer when it has been a long-term marriage or there are a lot of assets involved.

1. Define the issues and try to resolve them.
2. Find the net worth of the parties and the general financial status of the family.
3. Send out Interrogatories (a set of questions) that require answers under oath from the other party, which may include requests for financial data.
4. Take depositions (if the client consents) to obtain further information from the other spouse or those that have the needed information. Appraisers, actuaries (if pensions are involved), accountants or behavioral people may be deposed (with the client's prior consent).
   

• Schedule a settlement meeting where the attorneys and the clients sit down and try to work out a settlement.
• The court may appoint a mediator if no settlement is reached.
• If no agreement is reached, the mediator might make a recommendation to the court.
• An arbitrator, if appointed, makes a decision that is binding on both parties. An Arbitrator is rarely appointed.

If settlement is reached, the parties will be asked to sign a property settlement agreement containing the provisions of the settlement, or they may be asked to approve the final Judgment. Further, the parties may be required to approve the settlement in court, before the judge, after it is placed on the record.

Many people who do not settle the case on their own use mediation. Using mediation to negotiate a divorce agreement is almost always going to take less time, cost less, and result in a more solid agreement than using a lawyer to take the same case through the courts. When you are going to have an ongoing relationship with your ex-spouse, such as when you have kids together, mediation can help to improve communication and make your future interactions a little bit easier.

The mediator remains neutral between the husband and the wife. That means the mediator can't give advice to either party, and also can't act as a lawyer for either party.

During the mediation process, most mediators have the parties in separate rooms and they will go back and forth between the rooms to discuss and negotiate the other’s position. Sometimes a mediator will have the parties and their lawyers all in the same room when they feel it will be beneficial.

What the mediator can do, though, is to point out in open session to both spouses things that each of them should be aware of about what they're trying to accomplish. That open and free exchange of information frees up both spouses to negotiate with each other in confidence. Because both spouses are working with the same base of information, it usually takes far less time to negotiate a resolution that makes sense to both spouses.

Mediation works in approximately 90% of cases.

Arbitration and mediation work the same, the difference is that normally Arbitration is binding on the parties. In other words, the Arbitration makes a decision, like a Judge, which cannot be appealed except in limited circumstances.