How stressful and expensive your divorce becomes is a direct reflection of how much time you spend in court fighting your ex for certain terms. Couples who are able to agree about the best way to divide property or to share custody of their children will often spend less on the divorce and do less damage to their relationship than couples who battle intensely over parenting time and property division.
If you and your ex do not have a marital agreement, most of the major considerations for your divorce may currently be up in the air. Divorce mediation can be a useful tool for those hoping to minimize contention by keeping their biggest issues out of court.
Mediation puts you in the driver’s seat
If you and your ex litigate all of the issues in your divorce, the judge presiding over the divorce is the person with the final say in every important decision. You have little control over the outcome. If you successfully reach an agreement in mediation, you retain complete control over the terms of your divorce.
You can focus your efforts on achieving certain goals
Mediation changes the mentality of a divorcing couple. Unfortunately, it is common for divorcing spouses to have an adversarial approach to divorce. The more couples fight, the more expensive and emotional their divorce can become.
Especially if they share children, the adversarial approach to divorce makes future interactions more difficult for the parents. Divorce mediation forces people to work with one another, which can change the overall tone of the divorce. The cooperative negotiations involved in mediation can even help people learn to work with one another again after their marital relationship has broken down.
Mediation is more private
Another reason that mediation is particularly beneficial for those with children is that it helps keep a couple’s issues out of court. If you don’t spend time in family court discussing infidelity or other marital issues, those problems won’t become part of the public record or potentially damage the relationships between parents and children.
If you focus on working out your issues, mediation can help you and your ex reduce how stressful and expensive your divorce is while sparing your reputation and children from the damage that often occurs in contentious divorces. Looking into different options for the end of your marriage can help you pursue the best path to an Arizona divorce.
