Another Reason to Mediate Your Divorce
Posted on Mar 28, 2011 1:12pm PDT
As a result of the financial crisis in New York State, as of April 1, 2011, there no longer will be funding for Judicial Hearing Officers (JHO's) to assist the judges in handling litigated divorces in the matrimonial parts of the New York Supreme Courts. JHO's were talented and insightful judges in their own right. The loss of JHO's will profoundly effect how divorce cases are handled in the New York State court system.
This is yet another reason to think about mediation as a sensible alternative to litigating your divorce.
Putting your marital issues - custody of the children, child support, division of the marital assets, and spousal support - in the hands of a judge is already a daunting task. There is the emotional cost of opening up your lives to attorneys and to the court; there is the financial cost of both spouses paying a separate attorney to battle in court; and there is the time cost - missing work, not being as accessible to your children, missing out on your social life and hobbies - of the actual burden of litigating in court for many months and often years.
Now, the elimination of JHO's, who were an integral part of keeping divorce cases moving in the court system for almost thirty years, will certainly effect time and efficiency in the matrimonial parts of the courts. There will be an increased burden on the judges and court personnel to handle the cases once managed by the JHO's, and an increase in time that litigants will spend in court before their divorces are settled or go to trial.
Mediation keeps you in control of your divorce issues and ultimately the outcome of your divorce. Now with the unfortunate loss of JHO's, your divorce will almost certainly take longer, cost more financially and emotionally, and will likely effect the efficiency of the court and the judge presiding over your divorce.