Divorce & Marital

Whether you have been married for a few months, many years, or are not married but have children together, mediation creates an opportunity for couples and parents to work out the terms of their divorce or separation in less time, with less cost, and often with less hostility resulting in fewer lasting negative effects than traditional divorce methods.

Unlike the traditional court processes, mediation encourages couples to take control over the outcome by making their own decisions. Our professional mediators will not tell you what to do. Rather, they are trained to help people who have differences have productive conversations and help you to identify and make decisions about issues important to you. This makes communication and cooperation much smoother, both during and after the divorce.

Click here for an overview of MWI's class "Divorce Mediation: Information You Want to Know"

SAMPLE MEDIATORS AND ARBITRATORS - click on a name or picture for more information

Josh Hoch

MaryAnne Johnson

Bill Levine

Nnena Odim

Marcia Tennenbaum

SCOPE OF SERVICES

• Divorce Mediation - MWI mediators help clients reach agreement on topics including: parenting plans, custody, visitation, child support, health insurance and asset division. MWI will provide clients with a checklist of topics that need to be addressed, work with you to create the terms of the divorce, and prepare you to file paperwork with the court so that you may be granted a divorce.
  
  
• Marital Mediation - Clients who seek to stay married or to continue to live together may need to discuss differing views or have difficult conversations.  MWI's marital mediation services will help you to discuss and resolve conflict with your spouse and improve communication.

For clients who have an Arbitration clause in their Separation Agreement, MWI will administer the arbitration.

TYPES OF DISPUTES

MWI offers experienced and effective mediators and arbitrators with expertise in:

Click here for divorce forms and information

SAMPLE ENGAGEMENTS

Divorce

• After 16 years of marriage and two children in middle school, one of the parties had met someone else and wanted out of the marriage. Although this news emotionally crushed the other spouse, both parties created an agreement that provided for the healthy development of their children.

• A couple married for 8 years with twins, age 5, wanted to remain friends after the divorce and to reach agreements that were fair to each of them. Given that he had been out of work for the past six months and was spending more time with the children, custody and parenting plans were the most difficult topics for these clients to resolve. After five two-hour sessions they had reached agreements that they felt were fair to both of them and for the children.

• A mother of three had been living in the marital home after her husband moved out. She had not heard from him in three weeks, he was not seeing the children, and she was in need of money. When MWI contacted him, he was upset that he had not been seeing his children. A mediation session was quickly scheduled and the clients were able to create a temporary parenting plan and made decisions that determined how finances would be handled in the short-term.

Marital

• A spouse informed his wife that he wanted a few months to live separately and give thought to whether the marriage could be saved or not. They agreed to participate in mediation to discuss parenting and finances while he was living away from the marital home.

• Married parents from different backgrounds had conflicting thoughts on child discipline and expectations for school performance and attendance. Mediation allowed them to communicate effectively and work out a plan that united them as parents.

• Neither party for religious reasons believed in divorce, however one of the parties felt that “this is not a marriage anymore.” They worked with an MWI mediator to discuss what they needed from each other to restore the marriage.

Arbitration

• Arbitration can be used by agreement between two divorcing parties, often when they cannot work out all the terms of the divorce but want privacy, decisions made quickly, and the opportunity to choose from a list of competent arbitrators.

• Arbitration is also commonly used after the divorce to resolve disputes that might arise. Separation Agreements may have a clause requiring parties to participate in arbitration if there is a dispute relating to any of its terms.

Please contact Josh Hoch at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 800-348-4888 x23 for a no-fee consultation to learn more about MWI's Divorce and Marital Mediation and Arbitration Services.