Blog Post

Wanting to have your day in Court is a common feeling when you’ve been negotiating and arguing for months about something you feel very strongly about.

There is an overwhelming anti-climax that comes with a day in Court and sometimes going to Court makes things worse because while you may have asked the Court to do ‘x’ and the other party has asked the Court to do ‘y’ the Court has a discretion and a range of orders available to it when considering any application. After hearing all of the evidence the Court could very well order ‘z123b’ and everyone will be disappointed!

This is where skills of negotiation come in and years of experience in arguing matters before local Judges. After a number of years you get to know the leaning of particular Judges on certain matters. You know if an argument will be considered or bounced straight out of the Courtroom.

When I say to my client that I think they ought to settle it is not because I don’t like going to Court, or because it is an awful lot of money for them to spend on legal fees. Advice is based on looking at the facts in front of you and the experience of running certain arguments historically and making a judgement that on balance, it is better to settle for something we know is fairly certain, than to gamble on the more uncertain risks that come from a day in Court.

There is an unsettling feeling that comes with settling without your evidence being heard by a Court. Maybe you would have done better had a Court made the order? Maybe you would have done worse? My usual advice to people is that if you and your former partner each feel fairly disgruntled then we have probably got the balance right. There are no clear winners or losers in family law, it is a difficult and challenging process to unpick years of living together and our main priority is ensuring that any children of the family are provided for.

So to settle or not to settle? I’ll leave that with you!