Why do we need a book about courts - isn't it better to try and avoid it?

Of course it’s better to avoid court if you can, but sometimes it’s not possible – perhaps because the other person involved in the dispute will not be reasonable, perhaps its because it is not safe to try and resolve things directly, or perhaps because there is a genuinely difficult legal issue that only a judge can decide. 

There is guidance in the book about alternatives to court like mediation, and about some of the things that will need to be thought about before rushing to ask the court for help.

This book should enable those who are considering going to court to see that court is not an easy or quick option, to get a better understanding of what it can and cannot achieve – and ultimately to help consider whether court is really the best or only option. But primarily this book is for those people who have gone through that process and haven’t been able to avoid court – and who do have to deal with it. 

It stands to reason that around half of the people involved in the court process have not chosen to be there – they are responding to an application made by someone else. If you don’t have a lawyer it can be difficult to work out what on earth is happening or to try and predict what might happen next.