The decision to end a marriage that you have worked hard to establish can be extremely difficult. Even under the best of circumstances, divorce is bound to leave you emotionally and financially drained.
Opting for mediation is a prudent step toward ensuring that you dissolve your marriage as amicably as possible. But how do you make a mediated divorce work for you?
Here are practical tips that can help you stay focused while mediating your divorce:
Coming into the negotiation in “good faith”
Transparency is key to the success of divorce mediation. As such, both parties must be ready to engage in good faith. And this means that both parties will need to be forthright while disclosing their finances to the mediator as well as to each other.
If either party is attempting to hide marital assets or withhold important information, then the whole mediation process may not be successful after all.
Be an active participant in the divorce mediation process
Divorce mediation is a voluntary undertaking. As such, its success is considerably dependent on both parties’ active participation and cooperation. Therefore, if you take a backseat and leave all the work to your spouse, then you may end up with a one-sided settlement.
For divorce mediation to work, both parties must be actively involved in the process from start to finish.
Keep friends and family out of your mediation
Emotions can fly high when handling sensitive aspects of the divorce like child custody and support, spousal support and property division.
During those tense moments, the last thing you want is to rally your family and friends behind you. While they may have your best interest at heart, it is unlikely they will base their advice on facts and the law.
Divorce mediation can be an effective way of dissolving your marriage. Find out how you can successfully mediate your divorce.
