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What does it mean when we say “our divorce attorneys believe in taking a more sophisticated approach to resolving complex cases”?

Many divorce cases are complex. That does not necessarily mean the cases involve great wealth or unusual issues. It does mean there there may be issues of parenting, child or spousal support, property division, etc. that do not lend themselves to easy solutions. Support issues may be complicated by uncertain incomes. Parenting issues may be complicated by differences of opinion about what is best for the children. Property division may be complicated by issues of separate and community property or value of the property.

And all of these issues may be intertwined such that the answer to one affects another (determining income for support may also affect property division, and determining a parenting schedule may affect support).

“Taking a sophisticated approach” refers first to the fact that there are a number of ways to resolve the issues in a divorce, and that the lawyer has to be skilled in each of those methods to do them well.

The traditional way is through litigation (court based). Litigation shouldn’t be simply a matter of going into court and fighting. A sophisticated lawyer recognizes that the keys to an effective court hearing are gathering and presenting convincing evidence as well as constructing a strong argument based on the law. Likewise, effectively negotiating a litigated case requires good evidence and a well reasoned argument, as well as sophisticated negotiating skills.

However, truly being able to take a “sophisticated approach” also means being experienced in other forms of dispute resolution beyond traditional litigation. Different approaches are needed for different cases and different clients.

For some families, a traditional litigated divorce may not be a good fit at all. The spouses may prefer to cooperate with each other rather than treat each other as adversaries. This might be because they want to preserve an ability to cooperate as co-parents in the future, or it may simply be that they still respect each other even though they are choosing to go their separate ways.

Mediation and Collaboration are both sophisticated approaches to dispute resolution that have developed and matured in recent decades. Both take significant training and experience to do well. Both are ways of helping clients who want to work out mutually agreeable and beneficial solutions to their divorce issues. You can read more about these approaches in our website.

We believe we have built a reputation for finding the right approaches to best help our clients. As we recently heard from another attorney, “I have worked with Teresa at your firm previously, and have nothing but respect for the way SDS attorneys conduct themselves. Looking forward to getting our respective clients squared away in a holistic, cost effective manner.”