Family Mediation
A Better Way.
Certainly no one falls in love with another, develops a caring relationship, may or may not have children together, and build a life together with the intent of one day divorcing.
"The entire legal profession - lawyers, judges, law teachers have become so mesmerized with the stimulation of the courtroom contest that we tend to forget that we ought to be healers - healers of conflicts. Doctors, in spite of astronomical medical costs, still retain a high degree of public confidence, because they are perceived as healers. Should lawyers not be healers? Healers, not warriors? Healers, not procurers? Healers, not hired guns?" Chief Justice Warren E. Burger
Yet stresses arise, and couples often split under resulting pressures and life situations. Couples often change over time, grow in differing ways, and drift apart.
Sometimes rifts can be repaired, and relationships salvaged; sometimes not.
Putting Children First.
It’s important, especially where children are concerned, that divorces are managed sensitively and with compassion for all parties involved.
It is ultimately in everyone’s better interest where children are involved to resolve the process quickly and efficiently, but with less “drama” and fighting than traditional litigation; which is known for its adversarial “take no prisoners” approach.
Win By Working Together
When you see commercials on TV for lawyers, you hear about “strong arms” and “hammers.” You see pictures of sharks, fists pounding, pit bulls, and other illustrations of a “beat ‘em up” legal system that prides itself on “beating” a competitor.
These overbearing and confrontational approaches don’t end disputes, they keep them going.
Whoever loses ends up feeling resentful, probably deeply in debt if not broke, and certainly unwilling to cooperate on long-term visitation and custody issues.
As a result, parties often have to go back to court and it starts all over again. It keeps the system going, lawyer fees coming in, and maintains the myth that divorces and disputes can only be resolved through “lawyering up.” That’s the only way to solve a dispute that most people know.
In divorce and family mediation, no one is “right” or “wrong.”
Two people need to move forward in life and may need to do so separately or in a different type of communicating relationship. They can’t afford the debt that a “beat ‘em up” divorce will create, the anger and emotional devastation it will leave behind, and they don’t want their children to be dragged into a bitter divorce that destroys relationships.
And the irony is that divorce does not have to be a back and forth fight for control, ending up costing you a year’s salary. There is another way. A better way.
The Difference.
According to BankRate.com, the average divorce in America costs a couple approximately $20,000-$30,000. The average divorce mediation being around $2,000 and less. Which would you prefer?
Divorce Without Court.
Where divorce litigation can literally bankrupt a family, take years to finalize, and antagonize family members to the breaking point; divorce mediations are completed in less time, therefore with less expense, and with less emotional pain resulting in the process.
The couple has more input in what transpires and more control over the process, how the mediation itself is shaped, and in what decisions are finally reached than they would in a courtroom; where lawyers speaking for both sides fight it out in court and a judge finally deciding all matters.
If a separating couple is able to communicate honestly with a mediator, they can be guided through a divorce mediation to a mutually-satisfactory conclusion, with a settlement they can both live by.
