Mediation - Alternatives to Court Battling
Mediation is generally more satisfactory to parents and less expensive than litigation. I am a lawyer, but also a family mediator for the past 25 years, helping divorcing parents work out parenting agreements. Mediation is different from arbitration. Mediation is voluntary. Arbitration is mandatory. Court rulings are also mandatory – a judge listens to the evidence for a few hours – he or she really does not know your family – and then the judge tells you how to raise your kids!. But with mediation, no one can impose a solution on you against your will. Research shows that voluntary mediation agreements have a higher success rate of being followed than court rulings, and that is because you, the parent, had input into what was decided.
Mediation can work in landlord-tenant, labor, debt resolution, and other kinds of disputes. If parents disagree regarding their children’s best interests, they can sit down with a mediator and hash out their differences. Or sometimes a mediator will talk to one parent first, and then the other parent. Say the mother says that the father is loud and overbearing. And the father claims that the mother wants all his money. The mediator will listen to both sides, and explain to the father how he may come across as overbearing, and explain to the mother that it is in everyone’s interest for the father to be solvent. The parents talk, and the mediator listens and talks. According to research, in more than 80 percent of cases, an agreement is reached. Mothers as well as fathers can be satisfied from mediation. If neither parent is reasonably but not totally satisfied, it probably means that the mediation has been successful.
Parents sometimes think that if they have the opportunity to present their case to a judge, the judge will have to rule in their favor, because of the justice of their case. But courts are not established to dispense justice, but to decide cases. In and out, day after day, year after year, cases get decided, often with crushing disappointment to parents and harm to children, and at much greater expense than mediation. I offer advice, counseling, and a realistic assessment of alternatives to litigation, including "do's and dont's" that have helped many parents over the years. If you have to go to court, I advise you on the best way to do so without going bankrupt. Mediation is used as an alternative dispute resolution approach in my state of Maryland in some courts and in practice. The same is true in neighboring Virginia and the District of Columbia.
"Coach David." David L. Levy, J.D. | CALL NOW 301-927-1897 for free brief consultation