You are lucky if you do not have a friend or family member with an account of an ugly courtroom battle during their separation and/or divorce. Often those unhappy individuals spent a frightening amount of money on lawyers and other experts during a running battle, which likely spanned years, only to arrive at an order that they may be lukewarm about or that even makes them very unhappy. In many such cases, the ability of the parties to communicate and parent cooperatively in the best interests of their children erodes as a result of the adversarial litigation process, until it eventually becomes impossible for the family to function absent strict court orders enforced by severe court consequences and perhaps even police enforcement.
Consider as well that the court is a public service and your case, once filed in the court, can be viewed by the public or other family members (with certain limited exceptions) upon payment of a small fee.
It is often possible to either keep your affairs out of the court entirely, or at least minimize your usage of the court process, if the parties are prepared to consider other options for resolving their issues.