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What Is Divorce Mediation?

There is a divorce every 36 seconds. And it happens to all kinds of people, with only slight statistical variations for different life situations like age, education, and family status. In fact, the median age for first divorces is lower than ever: 30.5 for men and 29 for women. You may be dealing with a divorce yourself, and wondering “what is divorce mediation?”

Divorce and Its Impact

Divorce can be protracted, disruptive, expensive, and can take emotional and physical tolls on you and your spouse. And few severances or transactions that you make in the course of your life will have stakes quite as high as a divorce. The living situation and continued well being of any children in the marriage, your finances, your spouse’s finances, and the ability of each of you and your child or children to rebuild your lives and carry on all hinge on a fair and manageable divorce settlement, preferably one that is achieved quickly and with a minimum of rancor and acrimony. Divorces that are negotiated and adjudicated in the courts do not always produce such results. Divorce mediation has these results as its primary goal. But what is divorce mediation? And what is divorce mediation going to do for you and your family?

What Is Divorce Mediation?

Simply stated, having your divorce mediated means using a neutral party to achieve an agreement that meets the needs of both sides through structured negotiations. The mediator will be a trained and qualified domestic mediator, often with experience in family law. They will be selected by you and your spouse, though the mediation process, in general, is sometimes directed by the court. The divorce mediator will arrange and facilitate negotiations between you and your spouse, remaining neutral but taking the needs of both parties into consideration. They will work toward resolutions one matter at a time and endeavor to bring both parties to conditions that can be formally codified as the terms of your divorce. Divorce mediation services also frequently include expediting the legal proceedings that will make divorcing your spouse legal, formal, and final.

Divorce Without Mediation

In a conventional divorce, litigated by costly divorce attorneys in a range of court dates that can carry on for years, the parties commonly deal with divorce counsel with strict agendas, motivated to reach the best result for their client without necessarily taking the rest of the family into consideration. Terms agreed upon in advance of a litigated divorce are not always binding: a judge will have the final say when adjudicating your divorce. And while mediated settlements take place for the most part away from the courts, divorce negotiations that take place largely in courts and can become part of public records.

Benefits of Divorce Mediation

As you move through the often painful and always stressful steps of separation and divorce, be aware of your options: what is divorce mediation going to mean for you and your family? What is a conventional litigated divorce going to mean for you and your family? There are a lot of questions in a divorce, and there are just as many benefits to using divorce mediating. Learn more about divorce mediation, domestic mediation, and child custody mediation by reaching out to us today.