Divorce Mediation Basics

1Who should try mediation?
Anyone who wants to keep their personal information confidential should try mediation to keep their personal life out of public courtrooms.

Mediation is non-confrontational, works with your schedule and will give you the opportunity to explain your perspective on the situation and to listen to the other participant's perspective in a calm, mediated environment.

Mediation involves participants working together to find a solution rather than battling to win. Rather than a winner and a loser, mediation creates the opportunity for a win/win outcome.
2Is mediation voluntary or court ordered?
Mediation can be requested by individuals or it can be recommended -- or ordered -- by the court.

If voluntary, you can call us and provide basic information to set up mediation together or you can ask us to reach out to the other party to see if they are willing to try mediation. Both parties must be willing to participate for mediation to work.

If your mediation is court ordered, the approach is the same, but participation is no longer optional. Any party who refuses to participate in court ordered mediation risks being held in contempt of court.
3What are the financial advantages to mediation?
Mediation can dramatically reduce the cost of divorce. A certified mediator is less than the cost of a lawyer and the cost will be split between the parties, reducing costs further.

Mediation will reduce the time required to come to a resolution compared to a litigation approach and will eliminate many of the associated court costs.

By providing tools to navigate future conflicts, mediation can also save you future court costs.
4What do mediators do?
Mediators do not take sides, make decisions or pressure either side to reach an agreement.

Mediators remain neutral, facilitate communication and encourage listening on both sides. Mediators help you find creative approaches to arrive at mutually beneficial solutions.
5What if there's already a court action?
Even if you have a court action underway, mediation can help to resolve your differences more amicably, faster and cheaper.

If you want to learn more about using a mediator in your case, call us at (859) 208-0280. We can help you find the best way to move things forward.

Marriage Mediation Basics

1What is Marriage Mediation?
If you and your spouse want to stay married, but your issues seem insurmountable, marriage mediation is a method of working through the tough issues to get your marriage back on track.

During mediation, you and your spouse identify problems in the marriage and work together with a neutral 3rd party to find compromises and solutions that are agreeable to both of you. You then create a contract agreement.

Follow-up appointments are set up to determine if both sides have upheld their agreements.
2How is this different from marriage therapy?
Many marriage mediation clients have already attempted marriage therapy. They are seeking a way to resolve marital conflicts and want a way to do so where both sides are accountable for working toward a better outcome.

Marriage mediation uses open communication, discussion and compromise to arrive at agreements on the most pressing marital issues. Those agreements are committed to paper and both spouses sign the contract, which creates well-defined expectations and accountability for both partners.

Marriage mediation is often selected without marriage counseling by individuals who are wary of therapists. Marriage mediation and therapy are not mutually exclusive and mediation can occur before, during or after marriage therapy.
3Do we have to be married to do this?
No. Any long-term, committed relationship experiencing problems may benefit from this type of mediation.

Relationship contracts can have a positive impact for individuals in committed romantic relationships who have chosen not to get married and parent and child relationships.

4How does Marriage Mediation work?
The goal is to create a happier marriage. This requires a couple to work together to find the best resolution for their relationship issues. The mediator guides and helps you to find creative solutions to your problems, to find valid compromises for your relationship and to commit that to a written contract, but the outcome is yours.

Learning how mediation works in a professional mediator's office means that even when new issues arise in the relationship, you will both gain new skills to navigate, identify, compromise and agree on the ways to resolve those issues.

Every person is different and every relationship is different, but there are two types of relationships: those that are working and those that aren't.

Mediation can help your relationship work.
5Is it confidential?
Absolutely. One of the advantages of mediation is that any and all conversations, differences and agreements stay private between you and your spouse.

Prenuptial Mediation Basics

1Isn't a prenuptial all about money?
A prenuptial agreement can be just about assets, but prenuptial mediation can also resolve broader issues, even before they arise.

Although money or possessions can (and should) be addressed before getting married, other issues including the decision to have children, how those children will be raised, religious expectations, handling extended family situations, agreements on where you will live, romantic expectations, and even household chores can all be discussed and determined in advance.

These agreements are made and each party is accountable for coming to agreements and upholding their part related to these topics. You both go into the union with the experience of negotiating and compromising before the wedding.
2Why should I consider prenuptial mediation?
It takes much less time to get into a marriage than it does to get out of one, which often leads to entering into a marriage without exploring how that marriage will work successfully... or even how each of you define a successful marriage.

Learning what your fiancée expects from the marriage and making sure your fiancée understands what you expect before saying "I do" will help both parties.

Prenuptial mediation opens up a line of communication and offers areas of potential conflict to be discussed and resolved before they become relationship-damaging issues.
3How will this help after we are married?
Prenuptial mediation offers you a set of tools and new ways to approach areas of conflict with the one you love. It looks for resolution rather than a "win" in any disagreement.

Having these tools will make it easier to resolve potential and existing conflicts before they escalate. Both of you will also have tools to help effectively navigate friendships, business relationships and extended family relationships using those same tools.