Are you experiencing a change in the family? Divorce? Consider Family Mediation to try to resolve any disagreements.
Mediation is a confidential agreement-reaching process in which the neutral mediator offers meaningful assistance to the parents/ spouses who in good faith try to reach agreement in a collaborative, consensual, and informed manner.
Mediation will succeed in improving the parties’ communication, while evaluating the alternate options of dispute resolution including court litigation and identifying underlying shared interests. The parents/ spouses will address and resolve the matters in conflict.
The issues to be addressed may include parenting, financial support and division of property. Parenting matters include residential schedules, holiday schedules, education decisions, medical decisions and extracurricular activities. Financial support matters may include: child support (amount of basic monthly payments, contributions for education, medical, dental and sports expenses; security for child support) and spousal support (monthly amount, duration). The division of property matters may include the equalization of the net family property value considering all assets and debts, and less the value of property owned on the date of marriage, and the division of joint assets.
The goal is to engage in discussion through meetings to complete a comprehensive final memorandum of agreement with the mediator’s assistance. This memorandum is then to be submitted to each parent/ spouse’s respective lawyer to each obtain independent legal advice, and to complete the final legal separation agreement in an expedient and cost effective manner.
After completing the above written legal agreement, the participants can then focus their hearts and minds on moving forward, whether as a single individual or a parent with their changed family arrangement.
Instead of potentially incurring tens of thousands of dollars in a lengthy, destructive, and stressful court litigation process which could take years, consider Family Mediation First – a less expensive process in which all issues can be resolved by the parents/ spouses with the assistance of a mediator in a matter of days or weeks.
