What is mediation?

Mediation is a process where two or more opposing interests seek to find a mutual agreement. By using mediation, the parties involved have an opportunity to benefit from this alternative means of dispute resolution. Mediation provides an environment and structure conducive to communication, which allows all sides an opportunity to express their views and positions.

The mediator is neutral, confident, and knowledgeable of the issues at hand. The mediator will listen intently to not only issues of fact, but to other contributory elements as well. A mediator may offer independent views, suggestions, and creative means towards movement. Mediation reveals alternatives and opportunities for the disputants to reach an agreement.

The mediator's role is that of a facilitator. Mediation is not a judicial or formal hearing. It is an informal meeting to try and resolve the dispute to the satisfaction of all those who are involved. The mediation is confidential and no information learned in the mediation may be taken out of the meeting and used against any other participant. The mediator does NOT reveal any information discussed in mediation with anyone not involved in the case. Similarly, the parties will be asked to respect the confidential nature of the session and agree not to reveal any information disclosed by either side during the mediation.
 
Notwithstanding the foregoing, where an impasse has been declared at the conclusion of a mediation, the mediator, if requested and agreed to by all parties, may serve as the arbitrator in a binding arbitration of the dispute, or as a third-party neutral in any other alternative dispute proceeding.

Divorce and mediation

Divorce is a legal separation and should not be taken lightly. Because of the trauma to the parties and children involved, most divorce courts today require mediation, and attorneys are accordingly moving towards mediation before going to court. 

Mediation will help you make important decisions regarding many aspects of your divorce, including support determinations, property division, and child custody and visitation. If you fail to settle your dispute before heading to court, you may be required to await the judgment of an authority who knows neither of you and who is governed by a legal code which is cold and unfeeling in its attempt at fairness. Mediation can prevent the situation of accepting a judgment where neither spouse is in agreement and nobody wins.

Mediation is informal, not judicial. It is an unhurried process that allows the time to consider all alternatives instead of submitting to a fifteen-minute trial with an unyielding outcome. It may be your last or only opportunity to resolve your divorce between the two of you.

A mediator should follow ethical guidelines to the letter, such as the ethical guidelines adopted by the Texas Mediators Credentialing Association and the Supreme Court of Texas.