The need for temporary spousal support during the pendency of a divorce action is very common. All to often, a dependent spouse, who has assumed responsibility for the children and marital home, is left shouldering the financial burden of childcare and household expenses with little or no assistance from the other spouse. In these situations, most courts will award a spouse temporary child support or alimony while the divorce is pending.
Clients often ask me if secretly recording a spouse’s telephone conversations or accessing a spouse’s emails or text messages is against the law. I take a deep breath whenever I hear these questions because there is never a simple answer. The advancements in technology and the ease in which people communicate nowadays have resulted in a dramatic increase in incidents involving interspousal spying. In divorce cases, suspicion of infidelity usually serves as the impetus for clandestine monitoring of a spouse’s telephone calls, Internet activity, email transmissions and text messages. However, the act of intercepting the oral or electronic communications of a spouse may constitute a violation of both federal and state wiretapping statutes; statutes most clients are not aware of.
Mediation and arbitration, whether in a divorce context or not, are often confused and for good reason. Both are similar in many ways. Like mediation, arbitration is a confidential, cost-effective and expeditious alternative to traditional divorce litigation and courts of law. It requires spouses to voluntarily submit their divorce matter to a neutral third party, an arbitrator, who ultimately renders a final ruling on settlement. As in mediation, parties, usually agree on the selection of an arbitrator, who may be a matrimonial lawyer or a former judge but, in any case, are experienced and familiar with the many nuances of matrimonial law. In situations where spouses cannot agree on an arbitrator, a judge, if it’s a lawsuit, will often select one from a list submitted by the parties. The cost of arbitration can be shared or divided by the parties. It is often recommended that this issue be resolved prior to arbitration. The similarities between mediation and arbitration, however, end there.
Whenever I suggest mediation to my clients as an alternative to traditional divorce litigation, the suggestion is always met with the same response: “What is mediation?”
Well, divorce mediation is not a brand-new idea. It has been around for many years and has increasingly become the preferred alternative to the courts in settling divorce matters. It is important, therefore, for spouses contemplating divorce to become familiar with mediation, as well as other options for alternative dispute resolution.
