Divorce mediation is a way for couples to settle disputes outside of court. Successful mediation allows people to establish their own arrangements for property division, child custody and other important matters during divorce. If couples successfully set terms in mediation, they can sign a binding agreement that allows them to pursue an uncontested divorce.
Otherwise, they may have to take the matter to court and ask a judge to make key decisions about their family issues. Mediation is very helpful for those who want to maintain their privacy or control over the terms of a divorce but who can’t agree with their spouses yet on specific terms. Mediation can help settle those ongoing disputes in a way that both spouses agree is acceptable.
Can mediation help those in high-conflict situations where they can’t even be in the same room as their spouses without an argument erupting?
There’s more than one type of mediation
Traditional divorce mediation involves everyone sitting down together with a neutral third-party mediator to discuss the divorce and the terms that the spouses feel might be fair. That arrangement isn’t likely to be productive if the spouses can’t sit in the same room without yelling at each other.
In high-conflict scenarios, the spouses often resign themselves to the inevitability of litigation. However, mediation might actually still be an option. There is an alternate process known as caucus or shuttle mediation.
Instead of having everyone together, the mediator moves back and forth between separate spaces. Each spouse could be in a different room at the same office, or the mediator could travel back and forth between them over the course of multiple days. Even digital meetings might be an option.
Such arrangements allow the mediator to become familiar with each spouse’s perspective and to facilitate communication and compromise without everything devolving into a screaming match. It may be possible for a mediator to help the spouses and their respective attorneys work through and settle disagreements that currently seem impossible to resolve.
The spouses can then prepare for an uncontested divorce. They can focus on healing and rebuilding their lives instead of preparing for a protracted, highly-emotional litigation process.
Learning more about divorce mediation as a tool for resolving divorce disagreements could help couples take control over the divorce process. Even those dealing with high levels of tension can potentially make mediation work with the right approach to the process.