Editing Divorce (section)

====Uncontested divorce====
A large percentage of divorce cases are "uncontested", meaning that the parties to the divorce are able to come to an agreement about the division of property, custody children, and support issues instead of having those issues decided by a judge.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kay |first1=Herma H. |title=An Appraisal of California's No-Fault Divorce Law |journal=California Law Review |date=1987 |volume=75 |page=291}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Quek Anderson |first1=Dorcas |last2=Chua |first2=Eunice |last3=Ning |first3=Yilin |title=To negotiate, mediate or litigate? Examining the durability of divorce outcomes in the Singapore family courts |journal=Family Court Review |date=July 2022 |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=434–457 |doi=10.1111/fcre.12661}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Dijksterhuis |editor1-first=Bregje |editor2-last=Maclean |editor2-first=Mavis |editor3-last=Treloar |editor3-first=Rachel |title=What is a family justice system for? |date=2022 |publisher=Hart |location=Oxford ; New York |isbn=9781509950997 |page=160}}</ref> This is also known as mutual consent divorce or mutual divorce.<ref>{{cite web |title=Divorce by mutual consent |url=https://en.eustat.eus/documentos/elem_12679/definicion.html |website=Eustat |publisher=Instituto Vasco de Estadística |access-date=21 February 2025}}</ref> When the parties can agree and present the court with a fair and equitable agreement, approval of the divorce is typically granted.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wardle |first1=Lynn D. |title=No-Fault Divorce and the Divorce Conundrum |journal=Brigham Young University Law Journal |date=1991 |volume=1991 |issue=1}}</ref> Where the issues are not complex and the parties are cooperative, a settlement often can be directly negotiated between them. If the two parties cannot come to an agreement, they may ask the court to decide how to split property and deal with the custody of their children. Though this may be necessary, the courts would prefer parties to come to an agreement prior to entering court.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Galanter |first1=Marc |last2=Cahil |first2=Mia |title=Most Cases Settle: Judicial Promotion and Regulation of Settlements |journal=Stanford Law Review |date=1993 |volume=46 |page=1339}}</ref>

In the [[United States]], many [[state court (United States)|state court]] systems report that a significant number of divorce cases are filed ''[[pro se]]'', meaning that the parties to the divorce represent themselves without a lawyer. For example, courts in urban areas of California report that almost 80% of new divorces are filed ''pro se''.<ref name=trends>{{cite web |url=http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/programs/cfcc/pdffiles/HelpThemselves.pdf |title=Trends in Pro Se Litigation |website=Courtinfo.ca.gov |date=2019-02-11 |access-date=2010-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607133606/http://courtinfo.ca.gov/programs/cfcc/pdffiles/HelpThemselves.pdf |archive-date=2010-06-07 |url-status=live }}</ref>