Articles re Divorce Mediation

WHAT MATTERS -DIVORCE MEDIATION AND THE WANTS, NEEDS, AND FEARS OF THE DIVORCING SPOUSES
Facilitative divorce mediation focuses on the wants, needs, and fears or concerns of the spouses. It can lead to a wise agreement, created by the spouses, and designed to serve the best interests of the spouses and their families.

WHY YOU WON'T GET EVEN IN DIVORCE COURT
Friends might advise you to retain an "aggressive" divorce attorney to "get even." It won't happen.

"NICE PEOPLE AT THEIR WORST": DIVORCE LITIGATION AND HOW TO AVOID IT BY MEDIATION
Caught up in the battles of litigation divorce, both spouses can start to behave in a way that is seen as unreasonable, or worse. Mediation Divorce provides an alternative procedure in which the spouses negotiate in a businesslike way to reach mutually acceptable agreements.

DISADVANTAGE OF A LITIGATED DIVORCE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Problems confronting a litigated divorce are made worse in Southern California because of congestion in the famly courts . . .

HOW SPOUSES CAN MAKE VOLUNTARY AND INFORMED DECISIONS IN MEDIATION DIVORCE

Divorce mediation process can only work when the spouses make their own voluntary decisions, based on adequate information.

PEELING THE ORANGE - NEGOTATIONS FOR AN AMICABLE DIVORCE IN MEDIATION

In traditional haggling ("position-based" bargaining), the parties begin by stating their respective positions. . . .

A different approach is "interest-based" bargaining, where the parties, instead of taking and defending extreme positions, sit side-by-side and list the issues to be decided.

KEEPING YOUR KIDS FROM BEING PAWNS IN DIVORCE COURT, BY USE OF MEDIATION

It would probably come as a surprise to a person unfamiliar with the vagaries of the California Family Code, to learn that the court must order child support payments based on the number of hours the child spends with either parent (which includes sleeping hours).

THE MARITAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT: GETTING IT RIGHT AND MAKING IT STICK IN MEDIATION DIVORCE

In mediation when final agreement is reached on all issues a Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA) is prepared, reviewed and signed. The MSA is an enforcable contract and consists of carefully worked out agreements on each issue.

DIVIDING PENSION AND RETIREMENT BENEFITS (QDRO) IN DIVORCE MEDIATION

Retirement benefits are a form of employment compensation like earnings. Therefore benefits earned during the marriage and before separation are community property. For certain pensions federal law requires a certain type of court order to be used to divide these benefits, known as a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO).

PARENTS AT THE CROSSROADS: RESOLVING CHILD CUSTODY DISPUTES IN COURT OR BY PRIVATE FACILITATIVE MEDIATION

Parents facing a custody dispute are presented with two basic alternatives, to go to court, or to go to private mediation. Fighting custody disputes in court has a misleading allure, but the wiser alternative is facilitative mediation

FACILITATIVE [INTEREST-BASED] VERSUS EVALUATIVE [POSITION-BASED] DIVORCE MEDIATION

The two basic approaches to Mediation are Evaluative [position-based] and Facilitative [interest-based]. The latter is better for divorce mediation, and more likely to lead to a "wise agreement."

MODIFYING YOUR CHILD OR SPOUSAL SUPPORT PAYMENTS IN CALIFORNIA, WITHOUT A LAWYER
When there is a need to change the amount of child or spousal support payments under a divorce judgment in California, a simplified method allows a divorced person to get a court order, without using an attorney.

THE TROUBLE WITH LAWYERS: HOW TO SAVE TIME, MONEY AND GRIEF BY MEDIATION DIVORCE
Lawyers have a duty of "zealous advocacy"; in divorce cases, this can cause problems for everybody.

CO-PARENTING PLANNING: SOUND IDEAS FOR ADJUSTING TO DIVORCE OR SEPARATION
Parents moving to separate households in a Dissolution face numerous decisions and challenges in a changing and stressful situation. If parents are educated regarding planning to make the transition from one to two homes, they may be much better able to adapt to their new lives minimizing harm to the children