What is Mediation?
Mediation holds the promise of making divorce no more traumatic for the children than it has to be, nor less dignified to the participants than it can be. In ever-increasing numbers, individuals, families, businesses and community groups are turning to mediation as a saner, more humane, and more economical method of resolving disputes. Once referred to as the "quiet revolution," it has truly arrived.
Simply stated, mediation is "assisted negotiation." The mediator is impartial -- with no vested interest in any particular outcome but committed to ensuring that the process by which each participant finds his or her way to an agreement is a fair one. A skilled mediator helps to
create an atmosphere in which the participants can communicate more effectively and better understand both their own and the other's point of view. The mediator never imposes a solution upon the parties nor presumes to advise them what they "should" do; he or she helps the parties to identify and articulate all concerns and interests that may need to be addressed and to acquire all the information needed to reach a circumspect decision.
A more apt term for "divorce mediation" would be "separation agreement" mediation. When a couple is in the process of divorce, they need to make important decisions about, among other things, future parenting arrangements, child support, property distribution, and spousal maintenance. The decisions a couple ultimately makes about these issues are memorialized by the mediator in the "Marital Settlement Agreement" or "Memorandum of Understanding". When signed by the parties, it becomes a legally-binding contract. That agreement is ultimately filed in court and is incorporated in the divorce judgment.
