When is Divorce Mediation Not Recommended?
Here are the top 10 questions you should ask and 3 golden ruled to follow
Top 10 questions before deciding if divorce mediation is right for you
Whether divorce mediation is recommended depends on the answers to the following questions:
- Can you and your spouse communicate with each other without threats of financial or physical harm?
- Is your income and that of your spouse verifiable through supporting documents such as pay stubs, 1099 forms or tax returns, or in the case of business owners, truthful profit and loss statements in addition to the prior listed documents?
- Are you and your spouse able to communicate well regarding the children, specifically on issues such as co-parenting and visitation?
- Do you and your spouse live a life that is free from substance abuse?
- Are you and your spouse willing to be open and honest with each other regarding the community and separate property assets?
- Are any debts or liabilities that you or your spouse have incurred during the marriage identifiable?
- Have you and your spouse had a marriage without domestic violence?
- Are both you and your spouse determined to get your divorce completed without great financial cost to each of you so that you can each move forward with your lives?
- Would tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer's fees be a serious financial hardship to you and your spouse?
- Would you and your spouse prefer to make mutual decisions regarding your finances and your children as opposed to leaving those decisions to a judge?
What were your answers to these questions?
Did you answer most of them with a "yes"?
If so, divorce mediation may be a good choice for you and your spouse.
The three golden rules about the California divorce mediation process
If you answered yes to most of the questions, then it is time you learned the three golden rules of divorce mediation.
1. Divorce mediation is not an adversarial process
You and your spouse with the experience and knowledge of our mediators will focus on solutions, compromise and resolution. The mediation process cannot work and does not work without all three.
2. Divorce mediation does not have to be an all or nothing process
Successful mediation doesn't always resolve every single issue. There are instances where our mediation attorneys successfully resolve some issues but others are left unresolved. There is nothing wrong with that.
Being able to resolve some of the issues can still save you many thousands of dollars and get both you and your spouse on the right path to resolving the other issues, in due time. That is why patience when going through a divorce mediation is a must.
3. Divorce mediation requires both you and your spouse to be willing participants
No matter how much you may want a settlement, if your spouse does not want to participate and is not willing to put in the time, it will not work. There is no collaboration without full participation.
We have more amazing guides on divorce mediation
Our family law firm offers divorce mediation throughout the State of California. Please click on the images below to check out our other amazing divorce mediation guides.
