We have all read and heard and maybe even experienced the horrors of a contentious divorce. Tensions and temperatures are soaring, anger is rampant, and incivility rules. Seemingly impregnable battle lines are drawn over every issue, from alimony to child custody, from who gets the Picasso to who gets the dog. The costs can be quite significant, and on top of all this, they can take a few years to be adjudicated and finalized.
There are options, however – and one that may be especially appealing is Mediation.
There are several benefits to mediating a divorce. Because the process is amicable and not contested, the ugliness that can come from litigation and that can irreparably damage the relationship between spouses is absent, thereby affording the spouses a better chance to move forward as successful co-parents and to preserve some semblance of a family for their children (and maybe themselves?).
For mediation is also far less costly than litigation. Although a party may hire an attorney for consult during mediation and/or to review the final agreement, the cost of engaging an attorney in this capacity is substantially less than the high lawyer fees that are often incurred in a court matter.
Further, mediation is a far quicker process than pursuing a divorce case in court. The Judges are often overwhelmed with hundreds of cases and the matters move slowly through the court process, often taking years to reach the end. A mediated divorce case can proceed at the pace you and your spouse would like. If you can reach an agreement quickly, your divorce can be resolved in a matter of weeks rather than years.
Mediation is not appropriate for every case, but if you think that you can work together with your soon-to-be ex-spouse to close the final chapter of your marriage, you can avoid the pitfalls of a contested divorce. Most importantly, you can protect your children from the hardship of having their parents pitted against each other in the next “War of the Roses.”