Orlando Divorce Attorney News

The Brangelina divorce is proceeding along. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are two of the biggest movie stars in the world. Needless to say, when they get divorced, they get divorced a little differently than the rest of us. Vanity Fair reports that they hired a private judge to preside over their divorce. Retired family law judges or others can be hired as a private judge in Florida and elsewhere to quickly and discreetly hear a divorce case. If the parties agree, the private judge has full jurisdiction, as a regular judge would in an Orlando divorce.

For the rest of us, most of what is filed with the court become public record. Often, in the case of celebrity divorces, the tabloids will have their writers searching court records for documents. Allegations of cheating, abuse, and the like can end up on the front page. With a private judge, everything is filed privately, not with the clerk of court like an Orlando divorce attorney would, and many things are worked out before anything is filed for maximum privacy for the parties involved.

Private judges are also quicker and more efficient. Divorces can take a long time—the court systems are overloaded and it can take months to schedule hearing time and a trial date can be a year away. The entire case can be heard at once, or in a series of planned out events, rather than in several different dates over a period of many months, which is not uncommon in public courts.

At rates of around $600/hour, private judges are obviously not cheap, on top of paying an attorney, so it is clearly not a solution for everybody. However, the increased efficiency can make it worth it in other costs saved and the added privacy is also a great benefit for some Orlando divorce cases.

Call an Orlando divorce attorney at The Spence Law Firm for a FREE consultation.