I don’t know how it compares with arbitration or collaborative divorce, but I can tell you mediation in divorce cases where the parties come to an agreement on their children are much more likely to be settled quickly. I think our success rate of court-appointed mediation in our county is 85%. With 30 years of […]
Mediation Issues
What is the difference between mediation and arbitration?
In mediation, there’s no judge, there’s no panel, there’s one mediator and two people. In arbitration, that is an actual course hearing done by lay people. In Illinois, we have three lawyers that sit on the arbitration panel. They then rule and it goes back to a judge. Then that person, at that point in […]
What are the advantages of mediating only a few issues instead of an entire case?
Most of the people who come with just a few issues are the court-appointed people who come for the kids. These days, there aren’t a lot of financial mediations, but it’s becoming more and more popular to do them. I think that it’s not a matter of people not wanting them to; it’s a matter […]
How long does a typical mediation process take?
It depends. If we’re just doing children’s issues and the parties are relatively co-operative with each other, you can get it done in a couple of hours. If you’re doing the whole thing – all the financial and children’s issues – then that might take eight, 10, 12 meetings. It just depends. It also depends […]
Can a divorcing couple create their own co-parenting plan, assuming they can agree on the details?
It’s not a difficult thing to do if you sit down and use a calendar. That’s how most mediators would do it. They would get a calendar and try to figure out, looking at the reality of the situation. Saying 50/50 is very different than enforcing 50/50, because if somebody get stuck at work or […]
Can you mediate a divorce case where there are serious power imbalances between the couple?
Can you mediate a case where there are major power imbalances between the couple or where there’s been domestic violence during the marriage?
What are the advantages to using collaborative law versus litigation or mediation?
In collaborative law, it’s working with the parties – almost like mediation with lawyers except that you’re putting everything on the table the same way. In court, you have to go through a lot more different steps – you have to do discovery, you have to do all the paperwork, and reviewing all the paperwork […]
Laura M. Urbik Kern on Mediation Advantages to Settle a Divorce Case
According to Laura M. Urbik Kern on mediation advantages, the number one thing to consider is cost as it is expensive to litigate.
How does divorce mediation work?
It can happen in two different ways. Number one, the court could order you to mediation or the parties can go voluntarily to mediation. If they come, they will meet with an independent person – it could be a lawyer, it could be a therapist, or another person who is trained in mediation – and […]
Are there any advantages of using mediation rather than litigation for high-asset cases?
High-asset couples typically use mediation almost more than anyone else. They really want to have private solutions to their divorces. They typically have very complicated assets, which they understand, perhaps, much more than your typical family law judge. A family law judge is going to have mostly low-income people coming through the courthouse and may […]
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