Frequently Asked Questions About Mediation

Family Law Mediation is a confidential process that keeps you and your spouse in charge of making the important decisions that will best benefit your family.

It will save you time, money and allow the parties to decide what is best for their family situation instead of traditional divorce litigation which leaves it to a judge to decide. 

No. Donna cannot give legal advice to either party.  She can educate the parties on the law, but she does not represent either party.  As a mediator, she doesn't make any of the decisions. The decisions are solely left up to the parties. She can offer some settlement options that may work for the parties, but the ultimate decision lies with them alone.   Each party is encouraged to seek the services and advice of a consulting attorney who will discuss the individual party’s legal rights and look over the written agreement before it is filed with the Court.

Although there is no way to guarantee that a case can be resolved through mediation between the parties, nearly every case is eligible if both parties are willing.

Although each case is unique, it is customary for parties to resolve their family law matter through Mediation within 2 to 8 sessions with the mediator, but can, at times, require more. The session times can be an hour long or up to 2 hours in length. 

Divorces handled through Mediation more likely are resolved faster and less costly than when they are in Court. This is true even if the parties are not in full disagreement regarding their issues because the Court system handles thousands of cases per day and the backlog is often tremendous.

The parties will meet with Donna virtually via Zoom. This allows the parties to attend their mediation sessions in the privacy of their home or office, avoiding the need to sit in traffic, to pay parking, and also allows the parties not to be physically present with the other party (which is more comfortable for some clients). 

Fill out the contact information, or call our office and leave us a message that you are interested in mediation. Since both parties must agree to mediation, we ask that if one spouse calls and leaves a voicemail that they are interested, that the other spouse call and leave us a voicemail as well confirming they are in agreement. 

Once both parties agree, we will schedule a complimentary 30 minute session with both parties present via Zoom to describe the process and answer any questions about the process and payment schedule. 

Once the parties agree to mediate, they will be sent a Mediation Agreement and some additional materials to review to prepare for their first session.