It’s a good idea to try and avoid court if you can. Most matters that you go to court for are on what’s called a “rule day.” A rule is a hearing; it’s not a full blown trial.
Often there will be around twenty things on the docket on rule days. The judge will go through the list and find out who is there and ask how long it will take, because a lot of times the cases are settled prior to the rule day. Sometimes the the case could take five minutes or it could take hours and have witnesses involved.
After the judge has gone through the docket he will put the cases in order beginning with the case that requires the least amount of time. So, the longer and more involved the case is, the later in the day it will be heard and the more likely that it might not be heard at all that day. The case could be reset for a special day or the parties could be told to come back again on another rule day in a month or two.
This is why it’s a good idea to see what could be worked out ahead of time because it’s an enormous waste of time and waste of money if there are a lot of things to fight over. The more you can work out prior to the rule day, the less time a hearing will take, the earlier it will be heard, and the more likely you wouldn’t have wasted the day. The moral of the story is that it’s best to work things out as much as possible prior to court.