Dr. Roberta Marowitz has been a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and psychotherapist for over 35 years. Click below to find out more about me or schedule a free phone consultation.
Mediation
Divorce Mediation
Divorce mediation is about you and your soon to be ex-spouse/partner deciding your own divorce and what is best for the both of you and most importantly, your children. In mediation, you and your spouse meet with a neutral third party, the mediator, and with their help, you work through the issues you need to resolve so the two of you can end your marriage as amicably and cost effectively as possible. The issues covered include but at not limited to the following:
Distribution of Property (Assets/Liabilities)
Parenting Plan
Child Support
In mediation, the couple, with the help of the mediator, works out agreements on the above issues and others. Sometimes agreements come easy, sometimes they take time and a lot of work. When agreements are hard to reach, that is when the mediator intervenes. It is the mediators job to keep the lines of communication open, brainstorm ideas, reality test the couple, teach empathy and assist the couple in their decision making process. Mediators help keep the couple focused on the issues at hand, trying not to get them off track.
Mediation is flexible and confidential. It gives you and your spouse/partner a way to settle the conflict between you in a way that helps you to work together as parents. This is extremely important if you have children and must interact with your ex- spouse/partner after you are divorced. Mediation brings about communication between the couple, which can then be used when they must discuss issues in pertaining to the children. Lack of communication may have been one of the main reasons for their divorce. Mediation has the ability to help the couple learn to communicate again, if only for the sake of the children, and make their post-divorce relationship better than their married one.
A divorce mediator is neutral and doesn’t “work” for either parent. That means the mediator can not give advice to either party. They must remain neutral no matter what the situation.
What the mediator can do, though, is assist the divorcing couple in formulating ideas that can eventually lead to agreements that will stand the test of time. That open and free exchange of information frees up both spouses/partners to negotiate with each other in confidence. Because both spouses/partners are working with the same base of information, it usually takes far less time to negotiate a resolution that makes sense to both spouses/partners.
Mediation is voluntary. It continues only for so long as all three of you - you, your spouse/partner, and the mediator -- want it to.
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Helpful Resources:
Elder or Gerontological Mediation - What Is Elder Mediation?
Elder mediation provides a forum for family decision-making. It is private, confidential and completely voluntary. Mediators facilitate a purposeful and directed conversation in which family members are encouraged to express their interests and concerns. Meetings are informal and are held in locations which meet the family’s needs, including private homes, mediator’ offices and senior living facilities.
The mediator is a highly skilled conflict resolution expert and a neutral facilitator who does not provide advice or “takes sides” in these discussions. The goals of mediation are twofold. First to allow families to create workable and mutually acceptable solutions to their difficult disputes and second to develop communication strategies to enable them to successfully work together to make important decisions in the future.
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Helpful Resources:
*If you are in need of immediate or after hours assistance, please call the National Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
In the event of a medical or mental health emergency, please call 9-1-1.
I'm Dr. Roberta Marowitz. I am the Founder and Director of Counseling & Relationship Institute. As a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and psychotherapist, I offer individual, couple, family and group counseling services. For over 35 years, it has been my pleasure to help people in Central Florida with a broad range of issues.
In addition, I work in concert with legal and financial professionals in the area of Collaborative Family Law, which offers a way to resolve family legal disputes respectfully without going to court.