Divorce Mediation: Benefits and Tips from Washington, Dreyer & Associates

in the last 20 years mediation has become a very important resource to help couples go through divorce and custody matters what happens in mediation you may ask well what happens in mediation is that parties can go to mediation by themselves or with their attorneys and they’ll sit down with the neutral that neutral is the mediator the mediator cannot make decisions for the parties but what the mediator can do is help the parties reach a decision together if a mediator helps parties reach a decision together then the mediator writes up that decision it can be for part of the divorce it can be for the entire divorce when they write up that document that document can then be sent to the judge to sign off on as an order it can be a temporary order for temporary mediation it can be a final order for a final order for a divorce whatever is written up by the mediator will be agreed to between the parties and many times cases can resolve in mediation without having to go through litigation mediation is a Cooperative way to be able to resolve divorces and custody actions and so we’re proud to have worked with hundreds of clients to have their divorces resolved in mediation without having to go through the adversarial nature of litigation and a divorce because ultimately when we as attorneys walk away we want families to be able to still be families and going through litigation many times hurts those chances what are mediation pros and cons one pro is that mediation can be done quickly in a divorce why because parties can decide to go to mediation early and sometimes often in a divorce that can cause the parties to sit down and actually go through the issues they have and reach some type of agreement the con a con to a mediation is that sometimes you won’t resolve the issue what that means is that you can’t be forced to come to an agreement in mediation Medi ation is a collaborative process so if the mediator didn’t get both parties to agree you don’t have an agreement a pro mediation can many times resolve your case without having to go through extensive litigation if you resolve your case in mediation and the agreement is written up and filed with the court your divorce or custody case could be over if not the con is you have to go through litigation Georgia courts have started referring most if not all cases to mediation mediation can be a way to get your case resolved in a quick manner but it requires collaboration of the parties so tips that we often give for people going through mediation are these number one make sure that you’re getting along with the other party before you go into mediation it’s easier if parties are getting along to be able to resolve issues than if they’re coming in upset with each other number two make sure that you have all the documents that the parties will be talking about in the most current form what do I mean by that bills retirement accounts assets debts Etc make sure you have the most current documents so they can be looked at by the parties to determine how they’re going to be divided the third thing I would say is make sure you have time and patience mediation can take a while sometimes people can be in mediation for two hours sometimes they can be in mediation for 8 to 10 hours so bring time and patience with you when you’re coming to mediation following those three tips hopefully will help you have a successful mediation if you have any questions about mediation don’t hesitate to give us a call I’m a certified mediator here in the state of Georgia I can help you in your mediation process