Conflict in divorce disputes: the determinants of pretrial settlement

As a result of the increasing divorce rate over the past decades and the growing burden on the U.S court system, many states have stressed mediation as an alternative to a court judgment. What determines whether divorcing couples reach a bilateral settlement or resort to use of the courts? In this paper, we summarize the predictions from the theoretical literature on settlement failure and consider what these theories suggest in the application of divorce. The predictions of the models are empirically tested using the Stanford Child Custody Study. Estimation of the determinants of going to court indicates that none of the existing models on settlement failure adequately predict the determinants of using the courts. The results do, however, suggest that private information may play an important role in court usage. In addition, the results provide some interesting implications for policy-makers interested in decreasing the number of divorce cases that go to court. Attorney representation and the man's income increase the likelihood of going to court while the woman's education, the time lag between separation and divorce, and home ownership all decrease the likelihood of going to court. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.