When a marriage is over or when a couple separate, many questions need to be settled.
If their are children, then there are questions about their care. With whom will they live?
Mediation is a way for you and your spouse to settle these questions together. In mediation, you meet in face-to-face discussions with your spouse. With the assistance of a neutral mediator, you each state your point of view. The mediator then helps you clarify the issues and negotiate to reach a mutually acceptable agreement.
Mediation is not the only way of settling the questions that arise when a couple separates. Traditionally, agreements have been worked out by lawyers. In this case, your lawyer and your spouse's lawyer negotiate on behalf to try to arrive at an agreement that is acceptable to both of you. Most agreements are still reached this way.
If no settlement can be reached through negotiations, your divorce becomes a contested case. When this happens, your case goes to trial. After listening to both sides, a judge will decide on the terms of your divorce.
Mediation is different from these ways of reaching an agreement. In mediation you and your spouse work out the details of an agreement for yourselves.
Mediation is not marriage Counselling or therapy (for marriage or couples Counselling click here). Counselling and therapy help you to find a way to make your marriage work again or to accept that it is over. Mediation, on the other hand, focuses more on achieving a practical separation agreement than it does on resolving emotional problems. While mediators must always be sensitive to their clients' feelings and to the possibility of reconciliation, the primary aim of mediation is not to bring you back together again, but to help you to negotiate a workable way of living apart.
Think about what issues are most important for you and for your children and what should be discussed in mediation.
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