Mediation is a wonderful opportunity for a neutral (the mediator) to sit down with both sides of a dispute to try to resolve their issues without going to court. The mediator is a truly neutral party and the process is confidential.  The mediator does not negotiate on behalf of either party, but helps to fairly guide and direct the process for the benefit and best interest of both parties and any children involved.

There’s nothing to lose, because you have to mediate before going to trial anyway. And you don’t have to reach an agreement, if you aren’t getting the resolution you want you can still go to court after.

You may be asking, “Does mediation work?” The data shows the answer is a CLEAR “Yes!”

Mediation produces agreement in 50 to 80 percent of cases. And people who mediate are significantly less likely to end up back in court.

Keep scrolling to read more about the benefits…

Most lawyers don’t want you to know this: You net more in the end by not going to court.

The average cost of divorce in the United States is $15,000 per person. People who go to court can spend up to 134% more on average than those who mediate – that’s more than twice as much!

Mediation produces agreement in 50 to 80 percent of cases. And people on average reach a resolution in half the time it took to achieve a settlement through their lawyers and the courts.

Even if you need to go to court to resolve your issues, the legal statute requires that you mediate first. So the sooner you mediate, the sooner you can take your case to trial if it can’t be resolved in mediation. It causes the process to be shortened rather than lengthened, because you can’t have a trial without having done mediation.

And mediation reduces stress because it eliminates the conflict and you get to move on with your life. Most people are happy to just have it over, to be free of the stress and be able to move on with their life, and they’re happy they get to craft a resolution that works for them.

It helps resolve the tension within the relationship or family, to go ahead and try to get it resolved before you file and people start getting hurt feelings and get cross-ways. This helps you be able to sit in the same concert hall with your soon to be ex-spouse watching your child perform, and I help you understand how important that is to your child.

69% of mediation respondents were satisfied with their resolution, compared to less than half of those who went to court. The rates go up even further when dealing with issues like parenting arrangements and understanding your children’s needs and issues.

People want to win, without having to go to trial. There’s massive uncertainty if you don’t solve your issues in mediation. If you have to go to trial, someone else (a judge) is going to make all the decisions that you’re in a better position to make, and then you have to live with the decision.

Sometimes the decisions are not in your best interest, it doesn’t help do what you need it to do, because the court is looking at it from a whole different perspective. So you’re left having to take the court’s decision and live with it. Brenda tries to help each party understand that there’s life after this, and there’s value to resolving the matter now and that the net gain is probably better now, even though both parties may be giving more than they want, because of the risk, the law, and all of that uncertainty, you have a greater opportunity to eliminate all that.

People can generally live better with a result they negotiated, as opposed to one forced on them by court order. That’s such a benefit to you. Mediation helps you look out for your own interests when you’re trying to determine how you’re going to move forward and survive.

Litigation focuses on stopping the conflict rather than resolving it. People who mediate are less likely to end up back in court later for other issues or disagreements. Studies show mediated agreements tend to be more comprehensive and lead to higher rates of compliance with the agreement.

But research shows parents who work together in mediation can reduce the negative impacts on their children.

Children whose parents mediate are less likely to display delinquent behaviors, and are less prone to experience depression, anxiety, and other mental health and adjustment issues associated with divorce.

If you wait and go to trial, it’s uncertain what the outcome will be and you no longer are in charge of what will happen with your children.

The court acts as a SuperParent, because it establishes rules, boundaries, schedules, timelines that you have to follow whether you like it or agree with it or not, you have to do what the court says. So you lose some power and control as the parent letting the court make parenting decisions for you, which is frustrating for most people.

If you have the challenge of dissolving your marriage or working out your parenting issues in a contested matter, Brenda can help you resolve it.

You know your children better than anyone, you know whether or not your children are flexible or whether they need structure. Some children can go one week at mom’s and one week at dad’s and flourish, others don’t have that flexibility built into their nature and they don’t do well. So the court might not look at and consider that, they’re not going to get into what kind of personality does your child have. They have a broad brush, they can’t get into the specifics of who the child is, and Brenda can.

Mediation helps you develop a resolution where your needs have been more directly addressed, and it allows you to maintain as cordial a relationship as you can, which is so important when you have children. When you go to trial and say things about the other party, things they’ve done that are bad, even though they’re true, it hurts the relationship of the parents to be able to go forward. Even if you’re telling gospel truth, it still has a negative impact. Once it’s said, it can’t be taken back and it effects the ability to parent going forward.