If you are like many Texas couples facing divorce, you may want to avoid a potentially high-conflict, high-cost court battle. While litigated divorce was once the norm, today courts often actively encourage alternatives to litigation, including divorce mediation.
During a mediated divorce, you and your spouse meet with a neutral family law mediator to discuss areas of conflict, explore ways to compromise and hopefully come to a negotiated settlement that works for you both and helps your children thrive.
1. Minimize stress during the divorce process
Strict court-scheduled dates and long delays due to an over-burdened system can make a litigated divorce highly stressful and logistically complex. Mediation may allow you both to move forward at your own pace.
2. Find unique solutions to contested issues
From separating your finances and your physical assets to deciding on issues of child support and custody, even a simple divorce may involve difficult decisions. A mediated divorce may give you and your future ex a chance to explore creative ways to ensure that your final agreement is fair and really works for your family.
3. Stay in control of outcomes
If your divorce goes before a judge, the court may have the final word on important decisions about both your future and the future of your relationship with your children. Mediation may offer an opportunity to maintain at least some control over how your separation plays out.
While you and your spouse may come to a settlement agreement during mediation, this agreement is non-binding until an attorney draws up a final divorce decree and submits it to the court for approval. Additionally, if mediation ultimately does not work, you and your spouse may choose to pursue litigation to determine some or all of the issues that remain unresolved.
