Ultimately, you’re going to end up in court, but what are you going to do before you get there – and, yes, there are other ways. One can engage in the meditative process, where the parties sit down with a third party and try to hash out their issues and ultimately come up with some […]
Mediation Issues
At what point, if the child is distressed enough, should parenting arrangements be changed?
The first thing I would do, if it was my client that had the child, is encourage them to get the child into counseling immediately to find out what’s going on. Second of all, I would then encourage them to include the other parent in the counseling with the kid so you can find out […]
How do you make the children’s needs a priority during mediation?
Illinois mediator Laura Kern discusses her tactics as a family lawyer, and how her role can make the children’s needs a priority during mediation.
Have you ever seen clients attempt mediation or collaborative law in bad faith?
With most of the people who come in for their kids, they want to get it done. They want some closure on those issues. On the financial issues, most of the financial people don’t come to mediation. If they do come to mediation, they don’t have lawyers and they get the lawyers after the fact. […]
Can the mediator wear two hats during the process, such as a mediator and a lawyer or a mediator and a therapist?
You’re not allowed to be anything but the mediator when you’re in mediation. However, it’s not like you can’t leave out your life experience. Because you do have life experience that helps, and whether that life experience came from being a mediator or being a lawyer or doing finances, you can still use that information […]
If a party tells you something that is going to blow up the mediation, what do you do?
I would suggest to them that they talk to the lawyer about that stuff because that has to do with their rights under the law and they need to know what their rights are or are not. I would encourage them, before we went into mediation, to talk to a lawyer about that information and […]
Will the mediator keep information confidential or are you bound to share it with the other party?
Unless the person giving you the information gave you permission, you’re not allowed to share that with the other party. However, what I would do in most cases is say to the person, “Look, this is a concern of yours. If it’s a concern of yours, I can weave it into some of the questions […]
What happens, as a mediator, if you just really dislike one of the two parties?
Before you do mediation, you have to check yourself and make sure you’re ready to do it. If you’re already aggravated, tired, and everything else, you’re not going to do a good job. Let’s say one of the parties is really, really volatile or really, really obnoxious. I’ll pull them into another room and I’ll […]
What are the ethical guidelines of mediation?
You have to be neutral across the board. If you’re advocating for anybody, it’s for the kids. You can’t disclose anything that’s heard within mediation nor can the parties for that matter, I suppose. But they can’t call the mediator to testify. Ethically, you go in there and you try your best to get the […]
What is co-mediation and when is it typically used?
That’s when you have two mediators and typically you would use it if you have what we call stumbling blocks in mediation – where we get to a point where we can’t get the parties to move in any direction. Having a co-mediator there for that session, they’re sometimes able to approach it from a […]
Follow Us on Social Media