Arbitration

Arbitration is an alternative to litigation in general and, more and more frequently, is becoming an alternative to traditional divorce. In arbitration, couples appear together before a neutral third party arbitrator. Under New Jersey law, arbitrators are not required to be attorneys and, many times, are not. Frequently, arbitrators are members of other professions (such as psychologists, social workers, teachers, etc.) who only engage in arbitration on a part time basis. Couples appear before the arbitrator in a semi-formal setting and present their case to the arbitrator just like attorneys would present a case to a Judge. The arbitrator then makes a decision as to the resolution of the issues in dispute between the parties. Based on the prior agreement of the parties, that decision can either be binding or non-binding. Popular examples of binding arbitration are "The People's Court" and "Judge Judy". Once the arbitrator has decided the issues on behalf of the parties, the arbitrator's task is complete. Couples must then hire their own separate attorneys for the purpose of reviewing (and, some times, modifying) the arbitrator's decision and for the purpose of preparing all of the documents that the parties will need in order to proceed to Court to obtain a divorce on the basis of the arbitrator's decision.

Arbitration has some very distinct advantages over traditional divorce. Similar to traditional divorce, when couples are unable to resolve their issues on their own, arbitration provides them with the opportunity to have a neutral third party decide the issues for them. Similar to mediation, arbitration is generally much quicker and much less expensive than traditional divorce. The benefits of arbitration are not without their costs, however. Since arbitrators are not required to be attorneys, many of them are not. Non-attorney arbitrators can not be of assistance to the parties when legal issues are raised during arbitration. Once the arbitrator makes a decision, the job of the arbitrator is completed. The parties are not divorced at the end of arbitration and they must then hire their own separate attorneys for the purpose of reviewing (and, some times, modifying) the arbitrator's decision and preparing all of the documents that the parties will need in order to proceed to Court to obtain their divorce. While arbitration greatly reduces the cost of resolving the issues in dispute between the parties, it does not eliminate the cost associated with the hiring of attorneys for the purpose of obtaining a divorce based upon the decision of the arbitrator.

If you are looking for an experienced divorce arbitrator, please do not hesitate to call Jay at 973-598-9580 or, if you perfer, e-mail him at Jay@YanavokLaw.com, by using the link at the top of this page.