Tips to Help Speed Up Your Divorce Case

One of the most common questions clients have for their family law attorneys is how to speed up their divorce case. This is very understandable, especially when you consider that family law cases can be unpleasant, expensive, and slow-moving. Wouldn't it be nice if there were some easy ways to help speed things along. While there aren't any easy solutions, the following tips may help:

• Be reasonable. Work in good faith to agree on issues, plans and solutions. However, agreements are not always possible, because you can't make the other party be reasonable. Nevertheless, you should do your best to adapt and compromise on non-critical issues. If you can't agree to something that the other insists on, you should probably just plan to wait for the court to decide it for you.
• Be available. Make this case your priority and work your schedule around your case to the extent you are able to do so. It may not be convenient, but you may have to be inconvenienced if you want to speed up the process. This includes working with your attorney to getting your preparation done in a timely manner so that your case will be ready for settlement discussions, mediation, or court. If you want your attorney to do all the work, it will cost you more time and money.
• Avoid unnecessary fights with the other party. In a family law case, each side usually knows what will set off the other. While you may feel some spark of vindication if you take advantage of an opportunity to respond to provocation from the other side, these exchanges usually result in anger, which makes it hard to settle the case. You can choose between fleeting gratification or a faster way to resolve the case.
• Figure out what motivates the other side. If you can come up with an agreement that makes the other side believe that their needs are being met, you have a much better chance to achieve a faster resolution. Parties always evaluate proposals in terms of “what's in it for me?” So, if the other side believes that there's nothing in it for them, an agreement is not possible and you will end up in court.
• As a last resort, set court dates. Sometimes you must set deadlines to force the other side to act. There are steps that your attorney can take to prompt the other side to act, including hearings, discovery, depositions, mediation, and trial. Sometimes, you can resolve issues just getting everyone in the same location to discuss the issues, but other times it may require more force.

Warning: You should never let the other side know that you are anxious or desperate to get the case concluded. If they find out, it gives them a huge advantage in negotiating, as they can hold out for more and force you to make concessions in order to get an early agreement. Be sure to keep a poker face as you try to speed things up.

The Stevens Firm, P.A. - Family Law Center has provided exceptional legal counsel and support to families throughout South Carolina for well over two decades, handling all matters of family law, such as child custody, child support, and divorce, including complex cases. We are well-equipped to handle all family law matters, no matter your circumstances. Contact us at (864) 598-9172 to schedule an initial consultation. 

About the Author: J. Benjamin Stevens

Aggressive, creative, and compassionate are words Ben Stevens' colleagues freely use to describe him as a divorce and family law attorney. Ben is a National Vice President and Fellow in the prestigious American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, a Fellow in the International Academy of Family Lawyers, and a Board Certified Family Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocates. He is one of only two attorneys in South Carolina with all three of these distinctions.