Why Mediate Your Divorce Case?
First up, getting divorced is a life-altering decision. It is a decision that will not only haunt for the rest of your life if you are careless with it; but it is also a decision that will affect people in and around you. Hence, choosing the best way to get a divorce becomes a paramount decision on your part.
Mediation is the right fit
The popularity of divorce mediation has started to increase recently. People are turning to this method either because they have been disappointed by the slowness of the divorce process in court or want to avoid as much conflict as possible.
Why have a mediator?
Typically, divorce mediation has three people involved in the process. The spouses looking to end their marital relation and the divorce mediator. To most spouses, the role of a mediator is that of one trying to calm the proceedings down in case things start to heat up between the couple.
Hence, when two spouses get along well and believe that they have a necessary understanding on most issues as well as an amicable understanding between themselves, they need not have a mediator in their divorce. This is often the case with spouses having gone through divorce related information online who believe that they can handle their divorce on their own.
An important role
Yet, despite what they perceive to be adequate knowledge of divorce, all they may have is a basic plan for separation, not knowing what other issues they’ll have to consider in a divorce. It is often the case in our practice that spouses that agree on the general principles of issues, often disagree vehemently on its details. This means that once they try to sit and draw up a resolution on their own, these details hamper progress and often the process breaks down.
This is why it is important to have a divorce mediator involved in your divorce proceedings. An experienced mediator will have gone through many divorce mediations and will know the issues that are important and need to be raised. These questions can be on a range of issues, namely the most important ones, such as:
- Child Custody/Visitation
- Parenting Plan
- Child Support
- Asset Distribution
- Spousal Support
Most people that have the slightest bit of agreement with their spouses on the broader issues, want to get their divorce done without a mediator, partly because of its cost and time saving aspect. Yet, in reality, it can be said that hiring a divorce mediator helps spouses save time and money that they might have had to pay in the future, for example, the costs of a mistake in drawing up the resolution that can be challenged in court.
To learn more about the divorce process in California and how mediation can help, please visit our page, “What is Divorce Mediation.”
Gerald A. Maggio is a trained Orange County divorce mediator who has amicably resolved cases many cases out of court, as well as an experienced divorce and family law attorney. Mr. Maggio founded California Divorce Mediators in 2012 with the belief that although “not every marriage can be saved, every family can” and a mission to save families from the financial and emotional distress associated with traditional divorce litigation. California Divorce Mediators is located in Irvine, California, and serves the Orange County area and other counties in California offering divorce mediation, child custody mediation and mediation of other family law matters.
