Family Law Mediation
Family Mediation is a negotiation process where spouses settle their issues outside of court in direct discussions facilitated and controlled by a single neutral professional. This professional is called a mediator.
The process occurs via meetings between the parties and the mediator. Each party is strongly encouraged to have their own lawyer, because the mediator must remain truly neutral — which means they can provide no legal advice to either party.
The mediator can provide legal information, can guide the discussion around the various legal issues, and can even orient the parties to a range of possible or usual outcomes, but they must stop short of advocating any particular outcome. Practical, strategic and legal advice about what outcome may or may not be optimal for a spouse comes from that spouse's own lawyer, not the mediator.
Each party's own lawyer generally works in the background, advising their client as to their legal rights, answering their specific questions, and providing them with recommendations and opinions about particular resolution points. It is possible, although uncommon, for the parties to have their lawyers participate in the meetings themselves.
The mediator will gather information about the parties and their marriage, their children, their assets, debts, and their cash flow and expense arrangements. They will manage the acquisition and sharing of documents in support of this information exchange.
The mediator will also advise about what family law issues appear to arise from the separation, and will assist the parties in defining the questions to be answered, what other information is needed. The mediator will then manage the communication around the bargaining towards reaching a resolution acceptable to all.
Once the mediation process has achieved the goal of agreements on all of the issues, usually then the draft Separation Agreement is created by the mediator, and distributed to the parties for review. At that point parties consult their own lawyer to get some final legal advice, and to have their questions about the terms or the language used in the document answered.
If all is in order, the Separation Agreement is signed. If revisions are necessary, that can be done through the mediator, or between the lawyers if the parties so choose.
Some of the advantages of mediation:
ECONOMICAL
The parties are paying one professional fee to handle the bulk (perhaps all) of the negotiations and agreement-building. If there is one issue that is an impasse, the parties can take that issue to their respective lawyer or to court for resolution, while preserving the rest of the Agreement they built inside the mediation.
CONFIDENTIAL
The mediation process takes place in private meetings. No court appearances, and no personal financial documents (such as tax returns) are filed in the public court records.
SAFE
The mediator is present to facilitate communication towards a mutually acceptable outcome.
Generally neither party gets everything they want — balanced compromises are often the hallmark of a good agreement. It is also true however that neither party is forced to capitulate — by its very definition the process is voluntary, and no one can be forced to sign the agreement.
Our family law mediation lawyers will take the time to assess the characteristics of the parties and the issues presented, determine any special needs or features necessary to ensure a positive process. They will conduct the meetings and the negotiations within those meetings with skill and finesse to bring the parties to their best and most creative solutions.
Our team can also help each of you to find supportive independent counsel.
If this option appeals to you, contact our office to speak to one of our family law lawyers about this option.
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