Massachusetts Divorce Lawyer Discusses What You Should Expect During Mediation

Every mediation session is different depending on the parties involved and their disputes, however the general outline is similar and the first meeting is generally informational. As a Massachusetts Divorce Lawyer I like to find out if the parties have discussed their divorce, for instance; who would stay in the house, what the parenting schedule would look like, or how they would divide their retirement assets.  As a Massachusetts Divorce Lawyer I like to find out in the initial meeting where the parties are at, where the people are concerning their discussions with each other. Some people have made a lot of progress in their discussions and some people haven’t made any progress in their discussions, so the first meeting is to ascertain what might be issues in the mediation.

After hearing from each side as to what they hope to resolve in mediation, I ask them to each fill out financial statements and I might ask them to bring something to the next meeting that’s important. The first meeting is identifying the issues that exist between the parties, and then the second meeting is generally more intense than the first because that’s when you get down to the real work of mediating the dispute.

As a Massachusetts Divorce Lawyer, I always try to make sure that each party is heard fully and completely and that they feel that they’ve been heard fully and completely and take issues one by one in order for priority of what the parties feel is important to address. Usually that’s the substance of the second meeting and the second meetings on occasion can result in a full verbal agreement to everything that needs to be decided.  Finally, the spouses may need to consult with a tax advisor or consult with a mortgage broker in the third meeting. It takes many meetings to come to the point where an agreement is reached verbally. There’s then one more meeting after that and that’s to review the documents that I produce that you will need to file with a court in order to obtain a divorce.

If you are about to file divorce and want more information on mediated divorce, contact our experienced Massachusetts Divorce Lawyer to help you and your family.

This educational blog was brought to you by Cynthia Hanley, an experienced Massachusetts Divorce Lawyer.