Review of Contemporary Literature

Running head: DISPUTE RESOLUTION
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Divorce is a situation when married couples part ways from each other whereas
parental divorce is when the parents do not break their relationship with their children and
continue to take the responsibility of the latter. However, these parental divorce has a lot of
impact on the mental, cognitive, social as well as psychological health of the children
(Frimmel, Halla & Winter 2016). The same thing has occurred in the case study where
parents have decided to divorce but they are willing to take the responsibility of their
children. The primary aim of the essay is to discuss one method of alternate dispute
resolution that will be applicable for the parents in the case study along with its advantages
and disadvantages.
From the case study it is clear that since Amy’s second marriage and her decision to
shift from her current city has led to a dispute between the parents of the children as the
father will be deprived from taking the responsibility of their children. Therefore, each one of
them has filed a petition to gain the custody of the child without any interference. Alternative
Dispute Resolution came into play as the cost of judicial hearing as well as delay in justice
from the judicial system were mounting at a greater speed. ADR are of many types such as
negotiation, mediation, arbitration and others (Frey, 2003). It was known as an alternative to
litigation that would bring quick as well as fair victory for the ones who deserved a fair
verdict. Alternative Dispute Resolution is known as the confidential as well as alternative
method of coping with legal disputes that helps people to avoid going to court (Frey, 2003).
From the case study it is quite clear that neither Amy nor Richard are willing to come
to a conclusion as both of them have vast differences. Amy want to marry another man and
take her children away from the city which means that the children will not be able to meet
their biological father Richard. Richard on the other hand does not want Amy to take their
children away from the city and therefore, he has now decided to once again file a petition for
a change of custody of their children that was previously given to Amy. Amy too files a

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DISPUTE RESOLUTION
petition stating that she wants her children to accompany her out of the state where she will
be living with her second husband. However, the petition that they have submitted to the
court will take time to be resolved as court cases take a lot of time to resolve the dispute
among parties. Therefore, in this situation it is necessary for a third party to come and
intervene as well as solve the dispute between Richard and Amy so that they are satisfied
with the decision and come to a negotiated conclusion that would not harm any of the parties.
Thus, keeping the situation of Amy and Richard in mind the method of conciliation as an
alternative resolution dispute should be applied in the above case since neither of them wants
to solve the problem on their own (Frey, 2003).
Conciliation is one of the methods of alternative dispute resolution where the disputed
parties can use a conciliator who arranges a meeting with both the parties and tries to resolve
their individual differences (Kumar, 2017). The conciliator can achieve this by reducing
tensions, improving the means of communication between the two parties, interpreting the
issues that have occurred, provide technical assistance, explore potential solution and the
finally make a negotiation between the two parties (Ige, 2017). This method is a voluntary
proceeding where the disputed parties agree a third person to come and intervene in their
situation and make a definite conclusion after evaluating the situation. The conciliator is
always a trained as well as qualified neutral who assists in facilitating negotiations among the
disputed parties and help them in understanding their point of issue as well as interest so that
both of them can come to an acceptable agreement (Ige, 2017). Therefore, this situation will
be best for both Amy as well as Richard as they need someone to make them understand the
issues that are faced by both where the conciliator will aim to explore sustainable as well as
equal resolutions by making a direct target on the issues that are involved in the dispute and
thereby create various options for settlements that will be acceptable by both the parties
(Yemisi, 2017).