New Avenues for the Domestic Relations Practitioner
| Publication year | 1985 |
| Pages | 998 |
| Citation | Vol. 14 No. 6 Pg. 998 |
1985, June, Pg. 998. New Avenues for the Domestic Relations Practitioner
The Colorado judicial system, unlike many others in the country, has been experiencing a leveling-off in all types of case filings, including domestic relations. This trend follows the boom years of the mid-1970s when filings of all types skyrocketed, placing the existing judicial structure under immense pressure. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1984, the filing of domestic relations cases statewide experienced a slight decline for the third straight year, dropping approximately 2.6 percent from the previous fiscal year.(fn1)
Despite this decline, domestic relations cases accounted for nearly 29 percent of the entire workload of the District Court statewide.(fn2) Nearly 70 percent of all domestic filings occur in six urban judicial districts (Denver, Jefferson, Arapahoe, El Paso, Adams and Boulder Counties).(fn3) Counsel in these metropolitan areas, therefore, have been forced to deal with the issue of alternatives to traditional court resolution of domestic litigation.
This article examines some of the current methods of resolving domestic cases outside the formal court system, including arbitration (particularly as a tool in separation agreements and property settlements) and mediation (specifically, the use of the private settlement conference). With a variety of such services available publicly and privately, counsel now faces a multitude of choices in assisting the client. The challenge is to find the approach and method best suited to the case.
Arbitration, while long accepted as a means of resolving commercial and labor disputes, is gaining widespread use and acceptance in expediting domestic litigation. Colorado, like twenty-five other states, has a "modern" arbitration statute.(fn4) The Colorado Uniform Arbitration Act(fn5) does not specifically exclude or include domestic litigation. Rather, as such statutes in most states, it merely provides for submission of "any existing controversy to arbitration. . .."
This can be accomplished either by an agreement between parties to arbitrate an existing dispute or by using contractual language to arbitrate future disputes which might arise. In domestic cases, arbitration clauses are increasingly included in separation agreements to resolve future disputes.
Arbitration appears to be particularly suited to domestic cases where the primary issue is the economic division of marital assets. Although an independent, private arbitrator has no statutory authority to enter a decree of dissolution, the resolution of economic issues by binding arbitration in some non-contested dissolution hearings would seem appropriate.
Arbitration is relatively new in Colorado and thus Colorado case law is scarce. However, the arbitration process has been used extensively in domestic litigation elsewhere in pre- and post-decree matters...
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