The workbook we walk through with clients. The articles we send to anyone considering separation. The questions our clients ask first. Yours to read, download, and use — whether or not you ever pick up the phone.
The same workbook we walk through during the parenting-plan sessions of our Full Mediation engagement. It contains the prompts, the conversations, and the templates we use to draft a parenting plan that holds up across years — not just years one and two.
The plan that worked when your kids were five does not work when they are eight, and it certainly will not work when they are twelve. Here is how we draft plans that scale across the developmental stages — and the four provisions every long-horizon plan needs.
Before joint sessions begin, we speak with each spouse separately for thirty minutes. We do not negotiate, prepare arguments, or take sides. The call has one purpose, and it is the purpose that determines whether the rest of the engagement succeeds.
One of the most common questions we hear, from one partner who has already decided mediation is right and is not sure how to introduce it to a spouse who is hesitant. Here is the conversation we recommend, and the framing that has worked for our clients.
For couples who built a business together, the division is rarely a simple matter of valuation. The four structures we have seen work — and the two that almost always cause regret within five years.
How agreements typically settle into life over the first twelve months, what tends to come up at the one-year check-in, and the small adjustments most couples make at that point that prevent larger problems later.
No. The discovery session is the right starting point regardless of whether you have spoken with an attorney. If we recommend Full Mediation and you proceed, you will each engage independent review attorneys late in the process to verify the Memorandum of Understanding before signing — but you do not need that representation to begin.
Yes. Mediation conversations are protected by statute in our jurisdictions and cannot be subpoenaed or used in any subsequent court proceeding. The only exceptions are mandatory-reporting situations involving child safety. We explain the boundaries fully at intake.
Often, yes. The discovery session is where we determine whether mediation is currently viable. We have worked with many couples who arrived not speaking and finished the engagement co-parenting effectively. We have also recommended a different process for couples not yet ready for the room. Both outcomes are common and honest.
This is the most common situation we see, and mediation is built for it. The big issue gets the time it deserves; the agreed-upon items get documented quickly. Many engagements that begin with what feels like one insurmountable disagreement resolve when the larger picture comes into focus.
Both are non-court processes, but the structure differs. Collaborative divorce has each spouse retain a collaborative attorney, with neutrals joining as needed; total cost is higher and the negotiation runs through the attorneys. Mediation has one neutral mediator and both parties at the table; cost is lower and the negotiation runs directly between you. Both are good processes for the right couples — we will help you decide which fits.
Yes. The Memorandum of Understanding produced through mediation is converted into a court-approved judgment of dissolution, signed by a judge and enforceable as any other divorce decree. We handle the conversion and filing as part of the flat fee.
Ninety minutes, both of you in the room with one of our mediators. By the end you will know whether mediation is your path.
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