If you and your spouse have decided to divorce, you may be dreading an expensive, drawn-out legal process that pits the two of you against each other. In addition to facing an uncertain outcome, you may worry about how a court battle might impact your children.
However, if you and your spouse can agree to negotiate outside of court, mediation may offer a better alternative. During this type of uncontested divorce, you, your spouse and a trained family law mediator work together to create a settlement agreement that truly fits your family’s needs.
1. Moving at your own pace
During a litigated divorce, you may find the process takes both too much time and too little. Backlogged courts can mean long wait times, and, once in court, you may only have a few hours to describe your circumstances. Mediation enables both you and your spouse to move forward on your own schedule and at your own pace.
2. Staying focused on solutions
The litigation process itself is naturally oppositional. That can make it hard to stay focused on what you really want for the future. A mediator may be able to help by facilitating calm communication, pinpointing areas of compromise and suggesting unique ways to resolve issues ranging from parenting schedules to property division.
3. Shielding children from emotional fallout
Children often pick up much more about their parents’ emotional states than adults realize. By avoiding the stress and antagonism of a litigated divorce—and embracing a problem-solving approach—you may be able to help children better handle big changes in the present and future.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of divorce mediation is the fact that you and your spouse maintain control throughout the process, ideally leading to a final agreement that you can both feel satisfied with.