FAMILY MEDIATION
PREPARATION
- Find and consult with a lawyer regarding your rights and obligations.
- Inform yourself about your lawyer’s fee and costs of litigating your dispute.
- If financial issues will be addressed in mediation, review a financial statement form. This will help you understand what kind of financial information and documents might be required of you during the mediation process.
- It might not be necessary for parties to have completed a financial statement with a lawyer in advance of the first mediation session. However, doing so expedites matters. If you do not have a lawyer and/or find the prospect of completing a financial statement daunting (as many of my clients do), you are not alone. It is typical and cost-effective for parties to work with the mediator. They can assist in gathering and preparing all necessary financial information and statements. The mediator will work through all of the financial issues, and assist parties in determining ways that their assets and debts can be valued.
- If you have a lawyer, inform her or him about your decision to mediate.
Your mediator will have received your intake questionnaire by this time. They will inform you of what you need to do in preparation for the first family mediation session. If there are existing court orders and agreements, they will most likely be needed.
- When preparing for family mediation - you need to clearly establish your priorities.
- If achieving one goal (for example staying in the family home) is of particular importance, you have to be clear about it.
- Ask yourself if you feel vulnerable and insecure.
- Discuss these feelings with your lawyer, and/or make sure that the mediator is aware of them during your intake meeting.
- If you have a lawyer, download the Agreement to Mediate. Go over it with your lawyer before the first meeting with the mediator.
- If you do not have a lawyer, read the agreement yourself. Ask the mediator all of your questions during your initial and individual meeting.
