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Divorce mediation allows you to control the scales of justice. We can help you save time and money.

What is Divorce Mediation?

Divorce mediation is:

Divorce Mediation (noun) 1: private, voluntary process in which an impartial person facilities communication between parties to promote settlement, 2: does not involve a decision by the mediator.

Resolution both parties can live with!

Mediator (noun) 1: neutral (third person) selected by the parties to a dispute to assist in the identification of issues, generation of options and facilitation of a mutually acceptable agreement.

Divorce Mediation means . . .

Cooperative In divorce mediation, the parties in a dispute work together with the assistance of the mediator to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution. The divorce mediation process promotes communication, cooperation and restoration of relationships by negotiating peaceful settlements. In divorce mediation, the participants explore options and choose a solution that meets their basic needs and is consistent with their sense of fairness.

Confidential The divorce mediation process protects the parties' interests and legal rights. In order to encourage the free exchange of information, all divorce mediation sessions are confidential.

Empowering divorce mediation allows individuals and organizations to maintain control of the decisions that affect their future. Divorce mediation is a voluntary process where participants create solutions that meet their mutual needs and interests. Further, the divorce mediation process gives the participants experience with conflict resolution methods that they can use in resolving future disputes. At Shapiro Mediation, you make your own decisions--the mediator doesn't make them for you. The mediator job is not telling you what to do. She helps you gather the information you need, evaluate options, consider possibilities, and talk to each other, but she doesn't tell you what to decide. Sometimes people confuse divorce mediation with arbitration. An arbitrator's role is to hear a dispute and make a decision that will be binding. In divorce mediation this is not the case the parties make the decision. The parties make all of the decision for their future. This is not left up to the court, a judge or a arbitrator. You decide your future and what is best for your family after a divorce, separation agreement, pre-nuptial, post-nuptial, living together arrangements, same sex agreement, will, probate, renegotiating a modification of either divorce or child arrangements.

Neutrality also means that the mediator can't be a legal representative of either side. Therefore, neither party's lawyer can act as mediator. Because your attorney's job is to safeguard your interests, he is by definition biased in your favor. He's not doing his job. Neutrality also means that the mediator can't give legal advice, even if she's an attorney how ever having an attorney mediator makes a much better mediator because they are familiar with the law's and have a better understanding of what is equitable.

The mediator's job is to make sure the decision made is equitable for both parties now and in the future. Most people want to get through divorce mediation as quickly as possible, but it is important that you take enough time to reach an agreement that neither of you will regret in the future. For most couples, four to six meetings over two to four months is sufficient. The amount of time between sessions is up to you as well.