7 Benefits of Mediation and Collaborative Divorce

Mediation and Collaborative Divorce offer many benefits over litigation or even traditional position-based negotiations. Here are seven of them:

1. Control

The parties get to make their own decisions. The mediator or collaborative professionals help the parties understand their options and the consequences. In litigation the judge, who barely knows the parties, makes the decisions based on legal requirements and the judge’s priorities and sense of right or wrong. In mediation and collaborative divorce, the parties decide what is fair.

2. Dignity

Mediation and collaborative divorce promote human dignity. These processes focus on the better, more positive side of people, and build on cooperation. Litigation and traditional negotiation rely on force, leverage, and limited options. Participants often react with greater negative emotion and more destructive behavior. This difference is especially important where children are involved.

3. Better Results

The range of possible options available for solution is much greater in the mediation and collaborative processes. Judges are limited to solutions the law allows for particular factual situations. Creativity and innovation are rarely associated with courts. In mediation and collaborative divorce, however, the parties are free to consider any solution they believe works best for them (with some exceptions for child-related issues).

4. Better Lasting Results

Studies show that parties follow the terms of an agreement worked out by themselves more and longer than they follow the terms of a court imposed order. This means enforcement costs are lower, modification is easier, and satisfaction with the results are greater over time when compared with court.

5. Better Continuing Relationship

Mediation and collaborative divorce in some cases can actually improve communication and the relationship between parties. The parties get to see new, more positive, methods of resolving problems modeled by the participating professionals. Parties get to practice these new means of communicating and making decisions. Litigation rarely offers this opportunity.

6. Cost

Mediating or collaborative divorce often are less expensive than litigation. Sometimes the parties are paying for more professionals in mediation or collaborative divorce, but the hourly rates and level of involvement often are lower.

7. Time

Mediation and collaborative divorce can feel slow, long, and plodding to the participants. This stems from the methodical, step by step, and inclusive aspects of the process. When the customary number of sessions and length of time from start to finish are compared with the usual litigation timetable, though, mediation and collaborative divorce generally yield better results faster.

NOTICE
© 2009 First published as Modern Family Law Views in 2009, this article is meant as an information tool only, to help people going through the separation or divorce process and those working with them. For more information about Hadrian N. Hatfield and Strickler, Platnick & Hatfield, P.A., please visit www.modernfamilylawfirm.com.