Arbitration

If you and your spouse don’t want to hire separate attorneys to go to trial, but don’t think that mediation is right for you, then you should consider arbitration. Arbitration is different from mediation in that the arbitrator (one of our experienced attorneys) takes on the role of a judge; you will present evidence, and the arbitrator will render a written judgment called an arbitration award. The arbitration award will be filed in the court and is just as binding as if you had gone to trial.  Arbitration can be used to resolve all of the issues in your divorce or merely the specific issues on which you and your spouse are unable to reach an agreement.

You do not need to retain separate attorneys to participate in arbitration; you and your spouse may each represent yourselves as your own attorneys, “in pro per.” If you wish, one or both of you may seek advice from our consulting attorneys — this will give you guidance through the process.

The arbitrators in our office are Bill Woodcock, Hamid Naraghi and Charma Pipersky. Arbitrations are available only in person at any of our offices.

Among the advantages to arbitration over the traditional litigation process are that:

• arbitration costs less than half as much as a court trial,
• takes considerably less time
• the meetings are held in private as opposed to the public court rooms
• and you select the arbitrator as opposed to the random appointment of a judge who may or may not be familiar with family law

Arbitration is convenient in that it can be scheduled at the time you determine. As opposed to the courts, arbitration sessions have a calm and informal feeling. As in all of the work we do, we will always treat you with courtesy and respect.

If you are interested in finding out more about the possibility of arbitration for your case, please call our office, 1-800- 359-7004, and set up a fifteen-minute consultation with Hamid Naraghi, Bill Woodcock or Charma Pipersky. We can answer any questions you have about how arbitration works.

We look forward to helping you to resolve your divorce case through the use of arbitration.