Should You Attend Mediation?

You may or may not be surprised to learn that most Texas divorce cases settle outside of court.  You may not understand why you should attend mediation and you may just be ready to have your day in court.  Attending mediation doesn't mean that you are giving up on your day in court, and in many instances a Texas court of law will require the parties to attend mediation before any contested hearing, especially if child custody is involved or their are complex property issues to be litigated.  Although mediation doesn't always work, it can present some valuable opportunities that may be impossible to get standing in front of a judge.  ​

Firstly, you are in a better position to understand your life than a court is.  For this reason mediation is a great place for you and your soon to be ex-spouse to come to custom agreements regarding many issues that arise in a divorce or other family law case.  Some of these issues include child visitation, the right to designate where a child lives, the matter of child support, spousal support, and property division upon divorce.  A court in Texas will generally not veer from what is mandated by the Texas Family Code and you can expect an approach that does not take into consideration every issue that is important to you.  You can understand that the courts hear many cases each day and consequently they do not have the time to place a high value on every single thing that is important to you.  For this reason you should consider mediation an opportunity rather than a setback in obtaining your objectives during your divorce or family law case.  Oftentimes you can achieve more in mediation than in front of a judge.  For example, I have negotiated several cases in which child support ended up being lower or higher because of circumstances that were important to families, but not necessarily something that a judge would consider.  I have also used mediation to negotiate disproportionate shares of property for my clients that a court wouldn't necessarily award, and all without the need for litigation and the rising legal costs that go with it.  The sky is the limit, but you should consider fighting it out in court if the deal you are offered in mediation is less than what you and your attorney think you would receive from a judge.  The Law Office of Chad Zubi has experience representing people in mediation and encourages you not to go at it alone.  Call the office at 832-777-8924 to schedule your free consultation.  

On a side note, if you are nervous about being in the same room with your spouse during a mediation then don't be.  Mediation is meant to be a non adversarial environment where you are free to work together with your attorney and the mediator to come to an agreement that everyone can live with.  That being said, most times the parties are placed in different rooms and the neutral mediator will travel back and forth between rooms to help the parties reach an agreement.  

Tags: Divorce, Child Custody, Property Division, High Net Worth Divorce, Child Support