When Tiger Woods and Elle Nordegren were divorced, it seemed to happen in a matter of weeks. In fact, many celebrities– including Elizabeth Hurley, Kelsey Grammer, and Alec Baldwin, all seemed to finalize their divorces in just a few months. Yet we’ve all heard nightmare stories about the divorces of our friends or coworkers lasting a year or more.

The secret to a quick and relatively painless celebrity divorce is what is called private mediation, wherein the negotiations are performed between attorneys and the settlements kept secret. For these high-profile people, keeping out of the courtroom can save delays and the airing of embarrassing details.

Fortunately, non-celebrities are also able to take advantage of some of the benefits of mediation-style divorces. Referred to as “uncontested” divorces, clients can elect to have attorneys work out the terms of their divorce before a single document is ever filed in a court. The attorneys can negotiate and help the parties determine which parent will get custody of the parties’ children, how all marital property will be divided, and how much child support and spousal support will be paid. Then, when the couple has reached all their agreements, the documents can be filed and a hearing can be held in as little as two weeks. All told, an “uncontested” divorce can take just a few weeks, rather than many months. The other benefit? An uncontested divorce is substantially less expensive, because it does not require multiple court appearances – which typically result in larger attorney fees.

State law requires that attorneys can only represent a husband or a wife – not both. It is recommends that both parties to a divorce are represented by separate attorneys. In addition, an uncontested divorce may not be the right solution for cases involving many disagreements, or complex legal battles.

The best cases for uncontested divorces are those where the couples are able to reach agreements on several issues, but need an attorney’s help for just a few matters.