Generally speaking, divorce litigation should be the final choice and last resort in determining the distribution of marital assets. It is much better for the lawyers representing each party to come to an amicable agreement, sign off on the paperwork and report the settlement back to the court. Of course, that isn’t always possible. Remember, litigation can be very expensive and involve lots of billable hours on both sides. Win or lose, often both parties lose and the lawyers win. 

Unfortunately, sometimes divorce litigation is the only option when dealing with an unreasonable spouse out to take the other to the cleaners or out for vengeance. Let’s face it, emotions run high in divorce cases and there is always lots of blame to go around. Often there are kids involved and their interests are also a top priority, not only with the spouse being granted custody, but it is also a concern of the court. The children’s welfare and safety are something the courts take seriously. 

Another issue is spousal support – how much? Too much and it seems quite unreasonable to the spouse who will be paying far into the future. Too little and the other spouse cannot adequately survive, and could become reliant on social services paid for by the taxpayers. Something the court and family services definitely frown upon.

One of the biggest issues is personal and real property and the dividing of assets – who gets what? What must be sold and how will the proceeds be divided? Sometimes, there are tax consequences to go along with that. One big stickler to all this is fraud upon the court. Things like the hiding of assets, purposely overestimating expenses and under-reporting actual income. It’s amazing how much of this goes on during divorce litigation. 

Resolving a divorce through litigation should be a last resort, as it is much less expensive to mediate or work with a collaborative divorce strategy. If for some reason the parties cannot reach an agreement, then there is no other option but to litigate. While there is definitely a lot of case law on the books when it comes to children, child support, pensions, retirement accounts, and spousal support payments it gets a little trickier in complex cases that involve business interests, real estate holdings, and other assets. 
Divorces involving millions of dollars in assets or even 10s of millions of dollars often mean bringing in the big guns, powerful attorneys who specialize in winning for their clients. It’s a hostile environment and the two parties are at war until it’s over. It’s often not pretty. If you are going to go there, make sure you hire the right divorce firm that can craft a winning divorce litigation strategy.