If your decision to divorce was not part of a major battle, you might worry about the fight of going through the process. You may have seen movies and television shows portraying characters bitterly arguing in front of a judge. But with mediation, you and your spouse can come to a compromise outside of a courtroom.
If you must decide how to split up custody time and assets like a house and bank accounts, you may need help coming to a fair agreement. But instead of having a judge deciding for you, you and your spouse can work together to create a settlement.
A mediator is neutral
When you go through mediation, you have a neutral third party. This mediator will not have any stake in the outcome of your divorce. Instead, the mediator tries to help the two of you navigate through complex decisions fairly.
Mediation can help resolve complex decisions
Even if you don’t want to fight, deciding how to split things like custody and property can make you and your spouse tense. You may both worry about giving up too much. Figuring out how to share your children between two separate households can become difficult. And if you don’t want to sell the family home, you may disagree on who should keep it.
Mediators step in when you have these tough decisions. Their goal is to ease the tensions so you can come to a compromise. They may even separate the two of you and go back and forth so that you can make decisions without having to be in the same room.
Avoiding a battle with mediation
Not every marriage ends in an explosion. When two people gradually drift apart, they may want to divorce without fighting in front of a judge.
Some couples with complex issues may only be able to resolve their divorce in front of a judge. But for many others, mediation can avoid costly court battles.