Here is a proposal for divorce reform:
Structure divorce as an administrative process run like an ongoing mediation:
1. An administrator/mediator trained in conflict resolution manages the case/process. The administrator doesn’t have to be a lawyer or administrative law judge. Divorce lawyers are not permitted to appear in the administrative proceedings. Parties may retain a divorce lawyer at their own request but the divorce lawyer will not participate directly in the proceedings.
2. The parties are required to exchange standard information disclosures (e.g., asset statements from dates of marriage and divorce filing) and proposals for settlement (e.g. for division of existing assets). The administrator may request additional information and may appoint an accountant to review financial records of the parties. At the start of the case, each party will be ordered to set up their own individual account.
3. If there are dependent children, the parents are required to submit a joint parenting plan. If the parents cannot agree on a joint parenting plan, the administrator will address that issue first; but if the parents cannot reach an agreement, the initial order is that the parents will share equal parenting time during the proceeding and for two years after the divorce is final. Persons who were formerly employed as custody evaluators will be retrained and will instead serve as joint parenting facilitators tasked to help the divorcing parents reorganize there respective lives and households; joint parenting facilitators will remain assigned to the case and available to the parties/parents until the children reach the age of adulthood.
4. Parties are able to make all submissions made using standard fill-in forms (simple and understandable). Parties can revise their submissions during the initial months of the process.
5. Starting presumptions: (a) equal shared custody/placement of children is best for the children and that each parent is entitled to equal parenting time; (b) equal division of property obtained during marriage is equitable; (c) the return of divisible/documented pre-marital property to each spouse is equitable; (d) no alimony/maintenance is required to either party. Evidence/proof is required to overcome presumptions.
6. The administrator initially sets up a case resolution plan. The administrator then meets/mediates with parties monthly until case is fully resolved.
7. If parties do not resolve all issues by mediation within 18 meetings/months, the administrator will decide any unresolved issues. The parties can seek review/determination of the issues by an appeals panel.
8. Child support payment obligations are not part of the negotiation. The parents are each required to submit a proposed budget for their respective households. The parents are required to attempt to prepare a joint budget for child support expenses that are to be shared, such as for activities, special medical care, orthodontia, college savings. Both parents are required to pay child support into a fund based on their income and their parenting time and the budget. Each parent is entitled to withdraw a specified amount from the fund each month; if the parents share equal parenting time, each parent is presumptively entitled to withdraw the same amount from the fund. Parents are required to submit an annual statement providing a report/accounting of the use of amounts withdrawn from the fund and on actual child support costs/expenses.
9. The administrator has authority to “ticket” (impose fines/sanctions for) false/misleading statements and omissions and/or to refer a party for criminal prosecution for making false statements.
10. If a credible allegation of abuse is made, the administrator will keep proper distance between the parties. A special team of administrators will be trained for so-called high-conflict cases. The first goal will be to reduce conflict by removing any incentive for the conflict.
11. Issues relating to “quality of parenting” are not addressed in the proceeding. If one party/parent has objections to the parenting of the other party/parent, the objections are to be presented to an appropriate/different agency in a separate proceedings — to the child protective services agency.
12. Judicial review in the trial court is available for issues determined by the administrative appeals panel (with due deference to the administrator/panel). The initial determination of the court will be whether both parties participated in the administrative process in good faith; if the court determines that there was not good faith, the parties will be ordered back to the administrative process for up to one year under court supervision (monthly reports from the administrator).