Seattle Divorce & Mediation Attorney

How can a mediator help with my divorce?

Ending your marriage is not as simple as just requesting that the court grant a divorce. There are many different issues that must be settled before a court will officially dissolve your marriage. These issues include how you will divide your property, how you will divide your debts, how you will share parenting responsibilities and time with your children, whether one spouse will pay child support to the other, or whether one spouse will have to pay spousal support—otherwise known as alimony or maintenance—to the other.

Not surprisingly, many divorcing couples are not on the best terms and may have trouble agreeing on these issues. If a couple cannot agree, the Washington family court may have to step in and make the decisions for them based on evidence presented in hearings. Such hearings and determinations can delay the process, add significant stress, and may be quite costly.

Divorces do not have to involve long, drawn out, and expensive court battles, however. Instead, an experienced Seattle or Tacoma, WA divorce attorney at the Dickson Frohlich Phillips Burgess can help you explore options to come to agreement on all major issues outside of court. If you are going through a divorce call our office in Seattle at (206) 621-1110 or in Tacoma at (253) 572-1000 to discuss your case today.

Mediation as an Option

Mediation¹ is a proceeding in which both parties meet with a neutral third party—the mediator—in order to discuss pertinent issues and come to mutually beneficial agreements on issues in a divorce case. You should always be represented by an experienced attorney throughout mediation proceedings, as an attorney can help to negotiate and stand up for your best interests. Many couples find that mediation is significantly less contentious than hearings in court and much less expensive. If you can come to an agreement through mediation, a court will simply have to approve that agreement to grant your divorce.

Washington law² also allows the family court to require that you and your spouse go to mediation, especially regarding issues involving children or parenting plans. In such situations, you always want to have representation in these proceedings. In short, mediation is one option for divorcing couples that can help save them time, money, and stress during the divorce process.

¹https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediation
²https://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=26.09.015