One Mediator or Two?
The Mediation and Co-Mediation processes help an understanding of the needs and interests of both parties to come into the room simultaneously. This can be transformative for people otherwise stuck in old conflict patterns. There are few risks in investigating how mediating your dispute might serve you. After all, you can always go to court.
We offer you a menu of mediator choices so that you may select what configuration will work best for you, including professionals with complementary styles and skill-sets. Although the increased costs of using two mediators may be a concern, sometimes two heads are better than one. There are advantages to having an opposite gendered mediator pair assist your family because it can help to overcome gender fears. Obtaining a productive resolution of your divorce, partnership dissolution, parenting, and other family disputes is the most important thing. Mediated solutions save money now and in the future because individuals are much more likely to meet their promises when agreements are fairly and mutually reached and they are never as expensive as the litigation alternative. We discount our combined fees for couples who feel this may be a useful paradigm.
One advantage of Co-Mediation is that our team members combine legal expertise (the lawyer/judge experts) with the best wisdom of the mental health sciences (the therapist/psychologist experts). DFMS is helping to break new ground by offering a Team approach that we believe will become mainstream in California in coming years. The idea is to tailor make your mediation experience to maximize the likelihood of its success and the power of enduring resolutions.
Family law matters involving only property and potential support issues may not require a co-mediator, depending upon the level of conflict between the parties. Cases that combine property division with the sharing and coordinating of the raising of children may well benefit by involving our mental health co-mediators, since they are parenting and time-share experts with training and familiarity with the developmental needs of kids. It is not uncommon that needs or concerns that were not suspected at the beginning come out in the mediation process, and it is possible to move from the one mediator model to two as circumstances change or become clearer.
Our goal is to tip the mediation odds in your favor in every way that makes sense for you and your circumstances, and to be flexible and creative in designing the process. We invite your questions.
CONTACT DFMS FOR A FREE ORIENTATION MEETING
TO SEE WHETHER MEDIATION CAN WORK FOR YOU.