Mediation has lots of benefits over going to court. Mediation can be less expensive, easier, and much faster than going to court, but that is not always the case. Time and expenses depend on the parties and their needs.
The biggest problem for most cases is that communication between you and the other person has become difficult. One of the strengths of mediation is the possibility of the mediator to facilitate effective communication in the negotiation.
Cost effective, not cheap
The cost of a successful mediation is always less than going to court, especially if you pay for lawyers to fight it out. You may well want to hire a lawyer on an hourly consult-and-advice basis, or to represent you in all or some of the mediation process. If you don’t feel you are getting enough information about the process or if the mediator recommends, you should contact a lawyer.
Most court cases involve going to court at least twice, sometimes four or more times, and in a worst case situation for a full trial. These cases can cost $5,000-$30,000 and sometimes much more, per person. The cost for a mediator is almost always much less.
Angeles mediation uses experienced lawyer-mediators so the hourly rate is similar to an experienced lawyer. The reduction in cost is because each party is only paying half the hourly rate and because there is usually no need for expensive court hearings, and because the process takes less time.
Easier, not easy
You are looking for help solving your problem because you and your partner can no longer see eye to eye and communication has become difficult. Maybe you have each become focused on one particular solution and you guys can’t see any alternatives.
Working through these challenges is what mediation is about, and you do it with a mediator trained to address these challenges. Your mediator will listen to you and will not stop listening until you are understood. The other person gets the same opportunity. The mediator will stay neutral, and look for solutions that work for everyone. Angeles Mediation mediators are experienced at finding alternate solutions.
It’s a process, and Angeles Mediation will go through it with you.
Go slow to go far, go fast to crash
That’s an old saying among mediators. If we slow down, the mediator has a chance to really understand what everyone is saying and feeling. Like any difficult situation, it takes time to tease out all the issues. Family law cases, like custody, divorce, dividing property, figuring out shared parenting, always involve a lot of complex issues. Good and lasting solutions are usually discovered after the first meeting.
Mediation usually involves several meetings. This is good because it helps everyone think through things, find new and different ways of looking at things, and gives a chance to sleep on it. Sometimes people like to try out a certain parenting schedule and see how it works, and then adjust later if needed. This is something that rarely happens in court, but it’s easy to do in mediation, it just takes some time.
Mediation is an effective alternative to fighting in court
Maybe the most important thing in mediation is having patience and sticking with it. Most people who commit to the mediation process succeed.