Reasons Why Divorcing Couples Turn to Mediation
Winchester Mystery House San Jose, California
While we covered some of the important reasons why a growing number of divorcing couples are turning to mediation in an earlier post, there’s actually a lot more to it. Mediation comes with many benefits over the traditional court battles, and is considered a much better option, both financially and otherwise.
Mediation gives you complete control over the outcome of your divorce, and allows you to keep matters in your own hands as far as your children’s future is concerned.
With that being said, let’s take a look at some more benefits of mediation that are worth taking into consideration while deciding whether to go for a court battle or out of court settlement through mediation.
Mediation is Way Faster
Mediation not only allows you to control the outcome of your divorce, but also decide your own timeframe for the process. In fact, if both you and your spouse actually try to be reasonable enough, you may be able to come to a mutually acceptable agreement in just a few sessions.
Now, if you’re even remotely aware of court proceedings, you know that it can take terribly long to settle a divorce case in a court, thanks to months of waiting time. And this phase can be really, really difficult for the divorcing couple, as they have to live together with many unresolved issues even after deciding to separate.
Similarly, it’s also worth taking into consideration how massive the difference in the costs may turn out to be. Lawyers in areas such as Los Gatos, Campbell and Milpitas may charge in the range of $400 – $500 an hour. Given how long a divorce case may take to be resolved, and the fact that you and your spouse will be hiring separate lawyers, you may very well end up spending a staggering amount in your lawyers’ fees alone.
A mediator would typically charge a considerably lower rate, but more importantly, help you resolve the issues and reach an agreement way faster, meaning that you will be saving a huge amount of money.
Greater Confidentiality
All work notes and documents based on the discussions while mediating are confidential. Of course, even the meetings – which involve just you, your spouse and the mediator – are private and usually held at the mediator’s office. Sometimes, meetings are even held via Skype or a conference call.
On the other hand, adversarial proceeding involve discussing your personal issues in public, usually in front of people of your community, as well as the judge, lawyers, court employees and other attorneys. It may turn out to be dreadful to discuss your children and other personal issues in front of so many strangers, with most of them having nothing to do with your case.
More Flexible
It goes without saying that mediation is way more flexible than court proceedings. You can have a mediating session at a time of your choice, be it in the evening or a weekend. Furthermore, you can also mediate just as effectively even while choosing to not be in the same reason with your spouse, using applications such as Skype or other online services, or even a conference call.
When it comes to adversarial proceedings, you have no option but to follow the court’s rigid timings. And of course, with the overflowing dockets of the court, you may also have to waste quite a bit of time waiting for your case to be discussed, and then wait again for a few months for another session.
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