Every mediation is different, but if there is marital property and/or complex issues to resolve, a mediator helps by providing you a draft agreement to review with your attorneys. Each person should consult with an attorney to review any agreements reached in mediation. This way, each party to a divorce can be advised about any legal impact that the draft divorce agreement may have on them. This saves time, effort, and money. The mediator, (who is also an attorney), is unable to provide any legal advice, but may only tell the parties what the law says. However, by mediating the issues first, this still greatly minimizes the amount of legal fees that would be needed if the couple each retained an attorney, rather than a mediator, to work through the divorce issues with them together. Also, other professionals, such as accountants or appraisers may need to be retained to adequately value marital property.
A Mutual Path to Divorce
