Divorce Mediation Services
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Divorce Mediation?
Divorce Mediation is a voluntary, confidential process which is respectful, inexpensive and beneficial in cost, time and relationship savings. It results in a Divorce Agreement which includes a parenting plan with all details about living arrangements for children, all financial arrangements for children and parents, all division of marital property and details concerning medical, life insurance, asset and liability allocation and tax considerations.
2. Can mediation be successful if the couple has already retained lawyers and are involved in the court process?
Yes, definitely. Individual counsel from advocacy attorneys is helpful. Better yet, having first-hand experience, even, with an adversarial mindset and approach may be just the experience a couple needs, to know for sure that using a collaborative mediation approach is more congenial with their values and long-term needs.
3. What if you believe your partner is or will not reveal all income or assets from the marriage or partnership?
The mediation financial questionnaire accomplishes "informal discovery", a signed listing of ALL income and assets of a marriage with backup documentation and is signed under the "penalties of perjury". If joint agreements are made by the couple on the basis of incomplete or erroneous information, fraud is being committed, with it's penalties, and what would otherwise be a final division can be subject to court review.
Mediation participants must believe and sign-off that they trust that all income and assets from the marriage have voluntarily been revealed and that in their decision-making about child support, alimony and division of property they have been fully financially informed.
4. What techniques does THE NEGOTIATION COLLABORATIVE use to address power/knowledge imbalances between a couple?
One of the most frequently encountered imbalances is when one of the parties has more knowledge of finances, tax ramifications, methods of valuation of assets, businesses, pensions. By referring the other spouse to experts in one or more of those areas, a "knowledge imbalance" may begin to be redressed. The advisory attorney, during mediation, may be a forceful advocate for and coach of a party whose power and knowledge need augmenting.
5. Does the cost of advisory/review attorneys increase the cost of mediation dramatically?
Review/advisory attorneys advocate for your understanding and achieving all the information you need, especially information about alimony and inheritance, and your individual review attorney ensures that the final divorce agreement reflects your own, as well as the families' interests. Your review attorney will sign your pink 401 financial statement, and mark you up for a hearing date in court. We believe that the review/advisory attorney's costs will not be dramatic and should be planned for as a systematic part of a thorough checks and balances mediation process.
6. Can the mediator go to court for the divorce hearing?
No. The parties, with the assistance of their advisory attorney, get "marked up" for a hearing date with a judge and then may go to court with attorney(s) or go by themselves, representing themselves "pro se" and signing their own Pink 401 financial statements.
"Frequently Asked Questions" Designed in collaboration with Attorney Tracy Fischer
Janet Miller Wiseman provides Mediation and Counseling Services in the Boston area. She is an accomplished Divorce Mediator, Family Mediator and Couples/Family Therapist. She has 39 years of experience as an individual/couple/family psychotherapist and 32 years of experience as a divorce mediator. Her office is located in Lexington, MA. and while she serves clients from all over Massachusetts, many of her clients are from Acton, Arlington, Burlington, Bedford, Concord, Gloucester, Framingham, Lincoln, Malden, Newton, Watertown, Wellesley, Winchester, Waltham, Woburn, Reading and Salem. Janet is also willing to travel to your location for training, presentations and workshops.
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