Co-mediation
We offer couples the choice of one mediator or co-mediation with a male mediator and female mediator working together. Many couples prefer the balance of a male and female mediator and the added insights these trained mediators with legal and mental health backgrounds bring to the process. The greater understanding of psychological dynamics that a therapist-mediator brings to divorce mediation is very useful in overcoming blockages in the process.
When custody issues exist, the input of the psychologist-mediator helps regarding children’s reactions to divorce and the potential impact of various custody arrangements on children. The balance of a male and female mediator often makes each member of the couple feel more comfortable.
We offer online mediation via teleconference if a couple prefers not to mediate in person at our office.
Marital Mediation
Marital Mediation is designed to help couples save their marriage by renegotiating the terms of their relationship. Mediation can be very effective for those couples who feel that if their partner could make some significant behavioral changes, they would be satisfied with the marriage and be willing to continue rather than divorce.
The mediator helps the couple identify the issues getting in the way or marital satisfaction and specifies the behaviors that each partner wishes to see change. After the issues are identified and goals for change are set, meetings are held to monitor whether changes have occurred and if not, to discuss the barriers to change.
The couple may choose to incorporate the new terms of their relationship into a Marital Mediation Agreement which will commit them to these new terms. Each partner is encouraged to review the Agreement with his or her legal advisor before signing this Agreement. The Agreement may be enforced in various ways by the couple, including as a Post-Marital Agreement.
The Requirement Of Commitment
Marital Mediation works only if the couple is willing to make a good faith effort to reach agreement. There is no legal obligation to agree. Any commitment to mediation and to make the resulting agreement work comes voluntarily from the couple.
Some Benefits Of Mediation
The process of negotiating new terms of a relationship and writing a legal agreement can change behavior in a couple. Creating personal solutions enhances marital satisfaction allowing the marriage to continue. The mediation process is often more appealing to the partners than Marriage Counseling because it is very behaviorally focused and future oriented. Marital Mediation leads to a reduction in marital conflict, helping children.
We offer online mediation via teleconference if a couple prefers not to mediate in person at our office.
Elder Mediation
The Center encourages families having trouble with elder issues to use mediation to reach a binding agreement resolving those issues, thereby strengthening the family. The family jointly hires a member of the Center to act not as a lawyer or counselor for either, but as a mediator. During a series of meetings the family works with the mediator to identify their issues and work out a mutually satisfactory plan to address them, including exchange of information and whatever sharing of responsibility they consider best for them. Each family member is free to consult with a lawyer or other advisor at any time, but the family members are encouraged to consult with a neutral financial planner or other expert, rather than hiring dueling experts. The process is designed to help the family, with the assistance of the mediator, approach their dispute as a problem to be solved through brainstorming by all participants.
Typical issues addressed are: the selection of caregiver for the elderly parent; inheritance or estate planning issues; financial decisions such as who will manage the finances for the elderly parent; the wish for an elderly parent to continue driving despite multiple auto accidents; residence issues; medical treatment decisions; and guardianship/conservator issues.
Once an agreement is reached, the Center will write a draft of a Mediation Agreement for each member of the family to review with his or her legal advisor before signing the Agreement.
The Requirement Of Commitment
Elder Mediation works only if the family is willing to make a good faith effort to reach agreement. There is no legal obligation to agree. Any commitment to mediation and to make the resulting agreement work comes voluntarily from the family.
Some Benefits Of Mediation
The process of negotiating and writing a legal agreement can strengthen a family. A stressful, destructive pattern of unresolved conflict can be transformed into supportive, creative problem solving of difficult life-cycle issues through mediation.
More Information
There is an excellent article and a recording of a broadcast on NPR entitled “Mediators Help Families With Tough Choices Of Aging.” Can can read it and see it at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102972077
We offer online mediation via teleconference in addition to meeting at our office, which can be an effective alternative for families that have family members in several locations.
Other Mediation
The Center also mediates other disputes upon request. These include employment, education, consumer, family, Homeowner’s Association, and landlord/tenant conflicts.
We offer online mediation via teleconference if the disputants prefer not to mediate in person at our office.