Family law Mediation

Family law is a division of the legal system that covers all legal matters that pertain to a family, which includes marriages, prenuptial agreements, property settlements, civil unions, divorces, child custody, and adoption. Before the beginning of the twentieth century, marriage was defined by law as enabling the husband to become his wife’s legal guardian and the owner of her property. Family law was rapidly redefined in the 1970’s with most of the changes occurring in child support and custody and handling of divorces. No-fault divorces were adopted in all states by 1987, which helped to make it relatively easy to dissolve a marriage. No-fault divorce is when both parties want to end their marriage but neither party has clearly wronged the other and there are no reasons as to why a divorce should be granted other than irreconcilable differences. Even if a couple are granted a no-fault divorce before it is legally final there may be things that they cannot agree upon such as child support payments, child custody, property distribution, sharing of assets etc. This is where a family law mediator is hired to help with these situations. A mediator is a not an advocate for either party but is a neutral party. They can be a family law attorney or a mental health professional that has training in solving these problems. At times, a judge may also make the decisions. Family law mediation is just an informal legal meeting where the mediator will help the couples come to a reasonable and equitable agreement within the confines of the law. Some of the issues that can be settled at this informal meeting can include: • Which person will live in the family home and how the mortgage will be paidrn• If there are more than one car who gets which onern• Who gets what propertyrn• How custody should be set uprn• Which one will pay alimony and child support One example of how family law mediation might help is if during the divorce proceedings, the judge awards the husband one of the cars but he must make the monthly payments but in reality, he does not want the car. During the mediation meeting the husband may let his wife keep it or sell it in exchange for something that was awarded to her but he really wants such as a piece of artwork or the other family car. It could also be the wife in the same situation. With family law mediation, both parties will receive the part of the marital property that they really wanted without fighting over it in court. Once everything is decided during this informal meeting, the judge will give his approval for the settlement agreement.