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• Couple does not want to finalize divorce
• Religious or other reasons
• Can have child support, maintenance, and property settlement

• Gives children and spouse time to adjust
• Gives couple time to settle property
• May retain health insurance

• May prolong process
• May be more expensive
• "New life" may not be possible

• Couples with few disputes
• Couples with few assets – and those easily divisible
• Childless couples

• Inexpensive
• Fairly quick

• May make legal mistakes
• May make financial errors calculating maintenance or division of property & debt llocation
• Don’t have anyone on your side, attorney or financial planner.

Mediator may or may not be an attorney

• Couples who have issues to settle, but nothing that has to go to court

• Can be less expensive than traditional method
• Neutral third party, experienced in mediation
• Less adversarial

• No one completely "on your side"
• Not appropriate if spouse becomes difficult
• May need to resort to traditional divorce
• Either party (or both) may decide to retain attorney
• Even if mediator is an attorney, each may need review of paperwork by separate attorney (QDROs, etc.)

• Couple retains a single attorney to file for divorce for both.
• All paperwork completed and filed by attorney

Note: Ethically, attorney may only represent one party

• Reasonable, amicable divorces

• Less expensive than 2 attorneys
• Less adversarial
• Can be a fairly quick process

• One party has attorney, the other does not
• Not appropriate if spouse becomes difficult

• Each side has an attorney
• May or may not be adversarial
• Includes Requests for information, required status conferences and negotiating

• Situations where spouse is difficult, non-cooperative

• Someone completely on your side
• Expert confidential legal advice
• Most comfortable, and conservative approach

• Can be adversarial
• Can be expensive
• Is not always a cooperative experience
• May become a longer process

• Each side has attorney
• Each side has access to specialists (therapists, divorce planners, etc.)
• All professionals have been trained in collaborative process
• All agree to collaboration and working together to resolve issues
• If this fails, the attorneys drop out, and the spouses retain other counsel – and may go to the traditional divorce method or other method

• Couples with significant assets, and disputes, but who are willing to go through mediation-type process divorce

• Less expensive than a traditional contested
• May be more productive
• Each party has a person looking out for their best interests

• Can be more costly than some other methods
• Not appropriate if spouse becomes very difficult, intractable
• If process breaks down, spouses may need to get different attorneys