It’s no secret.  Everyone knows that divorce can be a very costly, emotionally difficult process, with serious long term consequences for you, your spouse and  your children. When you add emotional upheaval to financial disputes, the mixture can be a disaster. 

Mediation is a process you use to arrive at a binding legal agreement that becomes a Judgment of the court, while avoiding expensive legal fees and without you having to go in front of a Judge.  

In the past, divorcing couples would often engage in a long and costly legal battle leading up to court.  Then they would hand over extremely important decisions about their children, their property and their finances to a very busy judge with hundreds of other cases to decide.  Even with the best intentions, judges have very little flexibility and even less room for creative solutions.  Now, with mediation, it’s different.  Here, you and your spouse are the ones in charge of the specific details and the overall outcome of your case.  You make the decisions. 

The irony is that, if they haven’t already, most cases get settled anyway at the last minute before going to the judge.  Unfortunately, by that time half the kids’ college tuition has bent spent on legal fees.  While lawyers are sometimes necessary, the litigation process is not designed to minimize expense or trouble of the parties, and your family is the one paying the bill.

A mediated agreement, on the other hand, IS particularly designed to minimize expense and trouble, while providing you with the certainty of a binding legal document that you and your spouse have co-created.  This does more than save you money, time and struggle.  The mediation process leaves you with greater feelings of empowerment and self-respect, a sense of fairness and justice, and the beginnings of a few new reasons to trust yourself, your spouse and the system.  It also leaves you with a lot more money in your wallet and with a lot less stress and strife in your life. Most importantly, this process is the best way to go about protecting your children from the emotional and psychological damage that can come from a divorce between two parents in conflict.  It’s bad enough when a family breaks apart.  It can be devastating when it is torn apart.

At Settlement Works, our lawyers, therapists and staff support you at every step of the way to communicate, find common grounds and resolve difficult issues with your spouse.  Although it may seem impossible to agree on anything at a particular moment, our experience is that when parties actually sit down, talk and listen, a great deal can be accomplished and resolved.