Mediation: Your Best Alternative to Court
When you go to Court in a family law case, the Judge takes decisions about your life out of your hands and tries to make the best decision he or she can with the limited information they know about your life. No one truly wins in Court. It is possible to keep control of the situation and to make these important decisions about your life. Mediation is the main way to avoid the stress, uncertainty, and loss of control that comes with appearing in Court after a case has been filed.
Mediation
Mediation is the process of both parties working with a third-party neutral, the mediator, to hopefully reach a written agreement that both sides sign and then file with the Court to make the agreement enforceable and to resolve your case. With mediation, you and your ex-spouse (or soon to be ex-spouse) can each be represented by an attorney or you can attend without legal representation. In a typical mediation, you and, if you so choose, your attorney would be in one room and the other party (and their attorney, if applicable) would be in another room with the mediator shuttling back and forth between the rooms to help both parties reach an agreement they can live with.
Mediation is about reaching a compromise that works for your family and helps you focus on the future. By keeping control of the situation and avoiding the need to speak about your private life in the public arena of the courtroom, parties are often able to move forward with less conflict and, if children are involved, a better co-parenting relationship than if they had appeared in Court. Mediation is often less costly than attending and preparing for Court and easier to get the other side to hold up their end of the agreement because they had a hand in making the agreement.
Settlement Conferences
If you and your spouse are unable to agree to try mediation, settlement conferences can be used later in the divorce process when two parties are represented by attorneys and willing to work out an agreement with the help of their attorneys. This can be done by having both parties and their attorneys sit in the same room or by having attorneys communicate offers to their clients in order to reach an agreement. If an agreement is reached, all parties will sign a written agreement and then file the signed document with the Court to make it enforceable and resolve your case.
Each of these methods can be used to resolve a divorce or legal separation case or to resolve issues that have occurred after the initial divorce or legal separation is complete. As a Registered Domestic Relations Mediator and a family law attorney, I have the experience, understanding, and compassion to assist you in resolving your case outside of Court as your attorney or your mediator.
If you’re ready to formally inquire about mediation, use the link below to email Erin while COPYING your spouse in the email. It is very important that Erin is contacted by both parties together and not one party before the other.
This blog does not constitute legal advice nor does it establish an attorney client relationship. This is for general information purposes as in most legal situations the facts and terms of an agreement between the parties can affect the results.