Divorce Mediation vs Lawyer: The perfect formula to save time and money
By Ellen Barron Feldman, Attorney and Divorce Mediator

If you landed here after searching for “Divorce Mediation vs Lawyer” or “Divorce Attorney Chicago”, I have great news for you. I know about a process that can save you time and money and that process is called divorce mediation. When potential clients telephone me for the first time, they often assume that, because I am an attorney, I will be able to provide divorce mediation *and* draft the necessary documents to finalize the divorce process. While I am always neutral in the mediation process and cannot *also* act as attorney for one of the parties, I can absolutely provide divorce mediation. If you call to speak with me, you’ll likely ask me some questions and ultimately decide that mediation is a great option for you. Divorce mediation can make the divorce process less expensive and more efficient than simply hiring a divorce attorney. I can often save you time while helping you and the other party create a new parenting relationship going forward.

Traditional divorce mediation provides the opportunity for resolution of all of the required issues under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act in a neutral setting, with the assistance of an objective, neutral and impartial mediator or two. With mediation, spouses are more inclined to honor their obligations than if a judge imposed a parenting plan, division of assets and financial commitments on the couple. Couples who mediate are less likely to experience post-decree conflict as new issues arise, leading to fewer court appearances and reduced attorneys’ fees.

Mediation helps parents focus on the best interests of their children when creating shared parenting responsibility, how to divide parenting time during the week and on weekends and allocating holidays. Mediation facilitates working together rather than hiring attorneys which often results in the couple becoming more adversarial in the process. Communication has often broken down, leading the couple to divorce in the first place. Sitting in a room with a mediator often lends itself to new and improved ways to talk to each other. Texting, emailing or sitting down for coffee to discuss children’s activities, school and health may be things that the couple has not done in quite some time. Hiring attorneys often makes the couple more adversarial at a time when they need to focus on their children to make decisions that will be incorporated into a Joint Parenting Agreement and remain in place until the youngest child is 18 or graduates from high school.

Though I am an attorney, with fifteen years of commercial litigation experience, in the mediation process, I am always neutral. Having acted as the neutral party helping a couple make decisions about parenting time, holidays and financial arrangements for their children, I cannot at the end of the process advocate for one party or the other. That would present a conflict of interest for me to draft the documents relating to the children or financial settlement looking out for one party’s best interests over the other. Though it may make sense for an attorney to be able to draft documents which memorialize agreements already made in mediation, the law does not work that way in Illinois. Parties need to hire an attorney to look at the issues from his or her perspective. That being said, many of our couples decide that one of them will hire the attorney and the other will go pro se or for oneself and handle the final prove-up without representation by an attorney.

So if you choose to hire a chicago divorce attorney when deciding “divorce mediation vs lawyer”, rest assured that Chicago has plenty to choose from. However, please keep in mind that as an attorney, I have the perspective and experience, and credibility, to guide the couple through the mediation process knowing that litigation (going to court and allowing the judge to make all the decisions) is often not beneficial to either party. If both parties can save money in the process for retirement or college, everyone wins in the end.

The team from C.E.L. & Associates, Inc. is just a phone call away. Give us a call at (312) 818-3170 today.
Alternatively, you are welcome to send an email to info@celandassociates.com or complete our online contact form.

We will gladly help you decide Divorce Mediation vs Lawyer so you know whether divorce mediation would be better for you than one of those divorce attorneys that showed up when you searched “divorce attorney chicago”. Our goal is to help you have an amicable divorce which ends with both parties having a say in their divorce agreement.