What are the advantages of mediation?
There is no agreement unless both parties agree. You do not give up control of your dispute to someone else to decide. Mediation is usually less expensive than litigation. Mediation is confidential. Mediation is faster than waiting for a trial. Mediation preserves relationships by improving communication. Mediation tends to produce lasting agreements because the parties have produced them.
During the mediation process, often clients are able to either build a relationship when none existed prior to the mediation process or improve an existing relationship. By communicating in the presence of a third party, often people are better able to express their own feelings and listen, acknowledge and understand the other person’s feelings. If the parties have an ongoing relationship of any kind, for example where children are involved, this is a significant advantage. Agreements negotiated during the mediation process tend to be more creative. Agreements can be tailored to your specific family. Parties are generally able to come up with solutions outside of those which might be imposed by a court or an arbitrator. For the most part, mediation clients incur less cost than those who use the courts to resolve their conflict as there are fewer steps involved in bringing matters to a final resolution. There is more predictability to a resolution when it is negotiated through the media
(a) Privacy: Parties settle their issues without having to “air their dirty laundry” in public. (b) Voluntary: You can opt out at any point if the process is not working. (c) Speed: Litigating a contested divorce can take a year or more. Motivated parties can complete mediation in 10-15 hours of meetings spread over a few weeks. (d) Quality: With help, the parties – especially family members – are better positioned to develop a creative and mutually fair result than a stranger in a black robe. Parties also tend to more faithfully abide by mediated agreements that they have created than solutions imposed by a judge. (e) Preserving Relationships: When a party speaks directly to the other person in the dispute, they can engage in a conversation that can not only resolve the problem at hand, but can help preserve or rebuild the relationship. (f) Cost Savings: A successful mediation is significantly less expensive than a litigated dissolution. For example, divorcing couples could easily sav
• Provides an opportunity for concern and cooperation between the parties. • Provides the parties with the tools to structure an agreement in their best interests. • Minimizes the potentially traumatic emotional and psychological effects of the adversarial process. • Helps with the exchange of information, ideas, and alternatives for settlement between the parties. • Provides the opportunity for a resolution which is less expensive and time consuming than a court trial.
