Divorce Mediation and Expectation Management

By Gerald A. Maggio, Esq.

Orange County Family Mediation - Divorce Mediation; California Divorce MediationOne of the biggest fears that most couples and individuals have when going into divorce mediation is the threat of an uncertain financial future. Divorce is about dividing the pie that used to feed one family into two to feed two families. No matter what size of the pie each of the spouses gets it will continue to be less than what each had during their marriage. This is going to be a bitter pill for most people to swallow. However, there are some people who come into mediation expecting to have little or no change in their lifestyle at all after their Orange County divorce. Unfortunately though, this kind of expectation is beyond the calculations that math affords.

If you want to preserve your financial security and are looking for a more secure future monetarily, divorce mediation is the best place for you. The first thing you achieve the instant you choose mediation is a significant cut back on the fees you’d have to pay in litigations. Having said that however, there is very little mediation can do without the spouses managing their expectations to meet the resources available.

Here are a few tips to help you manage your expectations in Orange County divorce mediation:

Understand The Concept Of Separate Property

Any property that you received from inheritance, or had before you came into marriage will be your community property. This is exactly the same for your spouse. Now that this is clear, the first step to expectation management is think about your life on a timeline. If the property and assets belong to the pre marriage stage on our timeline, they are going to be considered community property and barring some exceptions will be completely yours.

If the assets and properties came under your ownership during your marriage, they will be considered joint property. This is the property that is divided up in between the two spouses. Once you are able to understand what is yours and what will be divided 50/50, you are likely to have more realistic expectations.

Take A Look At Your Finances

There are a host of cases that we face where one of the spouses is completely oblivious to information regarding their finances, and the other spouse’s earnings and assets. In cases like this, most spouses seem to assume that there is a large amount of money and assets to be divided where in reality that is not the case. This is an important aspect in Orange County divorce mediation, since lack of knowledge will handicap you in the negotiation processes.

To make sure no spouse is left under false impressions, both the spouses need to fill in financial declaration forms to make the picture clearer and expectations realistic.

To learn more about the divorce process in California and how mediation can help, please visit our page, “What is Divorce Mediation.”