Is Divorce Mediation in New Jersey the Right Choice for You?
From parents to professionals, mediation has helped countless couples in New Jersey to resolve their divorce and family law matters in a peaceful, time-efficient, and cost-effective manner. Regardless of your background or current circumstances, mediation can serve as an invaluable tool for dispute resolution if you are committed to fairness, communication, and compromise. However, there are certain cases in which mediation can be exceptionally valuable, particularly when the couple has a shared interest or investment that will likely require future interaction or at the very least, careful division. Prime examples of these instances include parenthood and shared business ownership. In these cases, the ability of the parties to develop a workable solution is essential to each of their futures. There are many other shared priorities which may lend themselves to the mediation process, some of which are outlined below.
When considering mediation as an alternative to traditional litigation for your divorce, asking yourself the following may provide you with invaluable insight:
- Do my spouse and I have a shared goal for the divorce process? For example, do we both want to save money that may otherwise be spent on hefty lawyers’ fees? Does our high net worth mean that financial issues require a careful hand, significant negotiation, and our ability to remain in control of the outcome? Do we both prioritize our privacy above all else? Do we both want to protect our children from a potentially adversarial divorce dispute? When you share a priority, you are both more likely to engage, invest, and commit to a successful mediation.
- Do we have children whom we want to co-parent in the future? You and your spouse may no longer be romantically linked, but your lives will forever be intertwined to some extent if you share children. Weddings, graduations, and many life events may require you to interact in the future. Day-to-day, you will likely face many decisions about the best way to raise your children. If you and your spouse want to move forward as co-parents in a positive way, mediation can serve as an ideal jumping-off point. The mediation process allows you to establish new forms of communication, laying a foundation from which to move forward as a parenting unit.
- Are both my spouse and I committed to putting in the work? You may not see mediation as a possibility at the outset, but if both you and your spouse are committed to putting in the work, your mediator can facilitate open communication and keep you focused on achieving a fair resolution that serves both parties and accounts for each of your needs. Understanding that the process may be difficult at times, but that neither of you needs to “lose” is critical. In fact, compromising through mediation can allow both parties to feel like they “won” in the end.
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