WATCH: What are the benefits of using Mediation to get divorced?

Read the transcript of this video below.

Mediation is a process that allows a married couple to make their own decisions regarding all the issues involved in a divorce, including how to divide their assets and debts, parenting responsibilities and financial responsibilities in the future.

I think letting the couple be in charge of the decision making, instead of their lawyers or a Judge, is the greatest benefit of mediation.

However, there are three other important benefits of mediation:

1. It saves a lot of time.  Mediation usually takes a few months, instead of years;
2. It saves a lot of money.  Mediation is a fraction of the cost of divorce litigation.

3. It saves a lot of stress. Mediation saves a couple’s children from much of the trauma of divorce because it decreases the conflict between parents.  It also teaches parents how to manage and resolve future conflict, which is bound to occur in the future regarding parenting issues.

Decreasing conflict around a divorce is important because we now know that it is the conflict between the parents – not the divorce itself – that causes the emotional trauma and damage to the children.

Marta J. Papa has been helping clients navigate the legal, financial, and emotional aspects of divorce for over 25 years. Known widely as the Divorce Whisperer®, she has successfully completed over 4,000 mediated divorces and is considered an authority on mediation nationwide. Recently, through a Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly poll, she was voted by her peers as one of the “Best Divorce Attorneys in Missouri.” She was also elected by both her peers and Martindale-Hubbell to the “Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers” in recognition of her accomplishments as a St. Louis divorce attorney.