Mediation can be a practical option for many people who are pursuing divorce or involved in other family disputes— not just those who get along. Facilitated by a skilled lawyer, mediation can help resolve your case quickly, protect your privacy and save on costs. We pride ourselves on helping clients resolve divorce and family law cases through mediation.
Family law attorney has received divorce mediation training from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University and advanced family mediation skills training with the Mediation Center for Family Law.
Our firm provides mediation services for all types of divorce and family law matters, including child custody, visitation, child support, spousal support, property settlement, allocation of debt and paternity cases.
Contact us today to discuss mediation and your case.
How Mediation Works
Mediation is a voluntary process where both parties — a husband and wife, mother and father or two domestic partners — retain a firm to assist both parties identify, resolve and settle their issues.
Our practice provides confidential sessions in the privacy of our offices in Arroyo Grande. We will guide the sessions, where each party will speak for themselves. We will prepare all necessary court paperwork and if an agreement is reached, neither party will ever have to enter a courtroom.
Through mediation, we will provide information to help you and your former partner frame the issues and make well-thought-out decisions to resolve all issues and bring the case to a prompt conclusion.
In a mediated case, the parties save a considerable amount of time and money by simply sharing information with each other rather than requiring dueling attorneys to drag it out of the other side or third parties. The mediator will guide the parties by providing specific instructions regarding the nature and extent of information that is necessary to resolve the issues in your particular case.
If you own a business or real estate, we can assist you with selecting expert witnesses such as a forensic CPA to place a value on your business or an appraiser to place a value on your property.
Is Mediation Right for You?
In a free telephone consultation, we will help you explore whether mediation is the best option for your case.
One of the benefits of mediation is you retain control — of the schedule, the cost and the decisions that will be made. You have a hand in shaping your future instead of letting a judge decide it. You can go at your own pace, taking the time to consider the long-term impacts of a decision. It is more confidential than litigation, and it saves the cost of having opposing attorneys fight it out in court.
When children are involved, mediation can begin a positive start to co-parenting.
Some disputes are unable to be resolved through mediation, however, and require litigation. We have extensive courtroom experience and can help you protect your rights.
Keep in mind that litigation does not have to mean a fight to the finish. Simply because each party has hired their own attorney, an expensive trial is not inevitable. In some cases, attorneys can facilitate settlement of issues.
The situations where a party may need their own personal advocate include, but are certainly not limited to the following:
- There has been domestic violence in the relationship.
- One partner/spouse feels intimidated by the other spouse to the point it is impossible to comfortably negotiate in a mediation setting.
- One spouse has a far superior knowledge and understanding of the parties’ assets and obligations.
- There is a lack of trust between the spouses which cannot be overcome in a mediation setting.
- The level of animosity between the parties cannot be overcome by one or both spouses.
