What is Divorce Mediation and What Are Its Benefits?

Separation or divorce is not easy, especially if it involves children and many years of history in the relationship. Divorce mediation can help everyone get through this situation more easily. But what is mediation?

In general, mediation is about resolving any matter between those involved in the conflict without the need for legal proceedings. In the case of divorce, mediators are neutral third parties who settle things between the couple. The mediator does not mediate in the actual sense but tries first of all to work out a basis for discussion with the respective couples. Once the basis for the discussion has been found, a permanent solution to the conflict is sought together with the conflicting parties.

In other words, mediation is an out-of-court conflict management process in which everyone is responsible and, above all, voluntarily looking for possible solutions. In the case of separation and divorce, mediation can refer to all personal and factual consequences of separation and divorce. If necessary, it also relates to how a couple deals with the children they share.

Mediation is not about one party winning and the other not. Rather, both parties win, so a win-win situation is created. In many cases, mediation prevents legal disputes in court by reaching an out-of-court settlement.

What do Divorce Mediators Do?

Mediators see themselves as third parties, whose primary task is to ensure that the disputed parties communicate with each other. The intended conversation should then be based exclusively on facts and proceed as objectively as possible and without great emotion.

In contrast to dispute settlement, mediators do not make impractical suggestions for a compromise solution in the mediation process but leave the conflicting parties to decide what they want to talk and negotiate about and how they want to resolve their conflict. If you are looking for top divorce mediators in Montreal, Spunt & Carin will be the best option.

Benefits of Family Mediation in Divorce

Mediation is an extrajudicial process that aims to reach an agreement between the parties in the divorce process through dialogue, conversation and exposure of the arguments and needs of each one.

Want to know what benefits family mediation brings to a divorce? Here are five reasons why mediation is a better choice than legal procedure in the case of a divorce.

1. Family mediation in divorce is faster

Many people believe that family mediation in divorce has only one role: to prevent the couple from separating. However, that is not the goal.

Of course, if those involved want to stay together, family mediation can help in this. However, that is not the goal of mediation in a divorce.

The actual role of family mediation in divorce is to facilitate the progress of the process by bringing the parties together and mediating the conversation between them to reach an out-of-court settlement.

Contrary to what you see in the mainstream media, the divorce process can be done extrajudicially or judicially. The former is much faster and easier, but it can only be done if there is an agreement between the parties regarding the separation.

Therefore, family mediation helps to reach this agreement, if it does not already exist, which makes the divorce process much more streamlined and easier for the parties.

2. Divorce Mediation is Cheaper

In addition to being more streamlined, the extrajudicial divorce process is also cheaper than the judicial option. For a start, all you need to do is hire a lawyer, while the alternative involves a professional for each spouse, not to mention court fees and other expenses.

Even after hiring a family mediator, the extrajudicial option is cheaper. Therefore, it is ideal that the couple tries everything possible to reach an agreement and be able to take advantage of this alternative.

Thus, family mediation helps the couple to spend less money on the whole separation process, which is already traumatic.

3. Mediation Helps Preserve the Relationship

Of course, a divorce process changes the relationship between the spouses forever. In fact, that could be one of the consequences. However, this does not mean that the change needs to be drastic or traumatic for the parties.

It's not because the marriage didn't work out that the couple needs to leave the relationship fighting, without talking and almost being enemies. Especially if they have children who will have contact with both of them.

Family mediation helps to make the divorce process more civilized, without fights and maintaining a polite and friendly relationship between the parties. That way, the wedding ends, but there are no hard feelings once the process is complete.

4. It Avoids Blocking of Goods During the Dispute

When the divorce process is not amicable, it is common for the parties to fight in court for all the assets obtained during the marriage. Because of this, it is common for one of the spouses to ask for the blocking of assets, which even includes the couple's joint account.

This creates many inconveniences for the lives of both the parties, especially the partner who wants to move on, but starts having problems receiving their salary, paying bills and other commitments.

Family mediation in divorce prevents the blocking of goods. Instead, it encourages conversation between the parties to try to reach an agreement. Everyone can speak, argue and expose their perspectives to reach a consensus that is reasonable and serves both to resolve the issue in the best possible way.

5. Beneficial for The Children

The divorce process is particularly complicated for couples with children as it must be done in a way that avoids trauma to the children as much as possible. Family mediation helps in this process.

First, mediation allows the couple to resolve their problems without fighting, which makes the process smoother without generating conflicts within the home if the spouses are still living together.

Second, mediation helps to establish custody and visiting dates so that children can have some stability as soon as possible, decreasing the trauma caused by parental separation. With this, the children will suffer much less from the divorce process and will be able to move on, without permanent damage and be happy with their parents.

The end of a marriage is a difficult and painful process and, for this reason, it must be handled in the best possible way, minimizing the problems and making this new situation easier for everyone.

If you would like more information on how to make the process smoother and to ensure that your rights are protected, do not hesitate to contact the best family lawyers in Montreal called Spunt & Carin.