What to Expect from a Divorce Mediation in Greensboro, NC

Separation and divorce do not have to be long, expensive, or, surprisingly, even adversarial. Divorce mediation lets couples work out decisions about their children and money together, with help from a trained, neutral mediator. When you help create the solution, it is more likely to work for your family. A North Carolina divorce lawyer can also guide you through mediation and make sure your rights and interests are protected.

What is Divorce Mediation?

Divorce mediation is a way to settle divorce issues without going to trial in front of a judge. It is a neutral process where you and your spouse work out your agreements together, so your separation and family matters can stay out of court.

In divorce mediation, a neutral mediator helps you and your spouse reach an agreement on the main issues. These often include how to divide property and debts, whether one spouse will pay support, how child custody and visitation will work, and how much child support will be paid. Mediation is usually less stressful, less expensive, and faster than going through a court fight and trial.

What Are the Advantages of Divorce Mediation?

Using divorce mediation to work out the issues caused by a separation can have many benefits compared to going to court or using other fight-style legal processes. Some of these benefits include:

Increased Rate of Success

Divorce mediation often works well. Many couples are able to reach an agreement together without having to go to court.

You Make the Decisions

Divorce mediation lets you and your spouse decide what happens with your money, property, and children, instead of a judge making those choices for you.

Confidential and Out of Court

If you go to trial in court to fight over divorce issues, what is said and what happens there usually becomes public record. In North Carolina, only a small amount of court information can be kept private, so most of the process is open to the public.

Unlike going to court, divorce mediation is private and confidential. Your family and financial details are kept out of the public record. Mediation also helps reduce conflict and avoids the fight-style process that often comes with court cases.

Economy

Divorce mediation usually costs much less than going to court and fighting the case through litigation. In many situations, mediation can cost about 50% to 90% less than resolving divorce issues in a courtroom trial.

Personalized Results

Unlike a courtroom trial, divorce mediation gives you and your spouse more freedom to come up with creative solutions. You can agree on options that a judge would not be allowed to order. Because of this, mediation often leads to more personalized results that work better for both spouses and their children than a court decision.

Shorter Timeline

In North Carolina, it is common, especially in larger cities, for separation and divorce cases to take more than a year to finish in court. With divorce mediation, the process is usually much faster, and you and your spouse have more control over how long it takes.

In court, you have very little control over the schedule. You often have to wait for the court to set a trial date, and it can also take time after the trial for the judge to make a decision.

In many divorce mediations, spouses sign and finish most, and sometimes all, of the needed paperwork on the same day as the mediation.

Accessiblity

Divorce mediation can be done in person or online using video meeting tools like WebEx, Teams, or Zoom. When it is done in person, it takes place in an office, which is usually much more comfortable than sitting in a courtroom during a trial.

What Should I Expect from Divorce Mediation?

In divorce mediation, each spouse meets with a neutral third-party mediator.

In most divorce mediations, each spouse meets with the mediator in a separate room. The mediator goes back and forth between the rooms, shares information, and helps both sides discuss the issues and exchange possible settlement ideas.

Divorce mediation is meant to be respectful to both spouses. The neutral mediator helps guide the conversation about how to solve the issues caused by the separation and divorce. No one is forced to agree to anything during mediation.

If mediation is successful, it means the spouses reached an agreement with the mediator’s help.

Talk to a North Carolina Divorce Lawyer

Divorce mediation often works well at settling disputes, even in very high-conflict cases where the spouses do not think an agreement is possible at first.

Divorce mediation can save time, lower stress, and help your family move forward with clear agreements. Getting the right legal guidance can make the process smoother and protect your interests. Call the Law Office of Stephen E. Robertson, PLLC at (336) 370-6760 or fill out the contact form on our website to schedule a consultation and learn your options today.