Posted on November 09,2021 in Property Division

Ending your marriage will require you and your spouse to make many decisions about how you will separate your lives from each other. Since you have most likely accumulated multiple different types of property during your marriage, determining how to divide your money and assets may be a complicated matter. Fortunately, divorce mediation can be a beneficial way to reach agreements on these issues and create a settlement that will provide each of you with the financial resources you need.

Addressing Multiple Types of Marital Property During Divorce Mediation

Recently, we looked at some issues that you may need to address when dividing valuable assets such as your home or a family business. In addition to those forms of property, you will also need to make decisions about other assets you own, including:

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on November 09,2021 in Property Division

If you are planning to end your marriage, you and your spouse will need to address a variety of complex issues related to your property and finances, as well as other legal issues that will affect the two of you. While the divorce process can sometimes be lengthy and expensive, divorce mediation provides the option to complete this process more quickly and efficiently. As you prepare for divorce mediation, you will need to understand the issues to consider as you and your spouse negotiate a settlement that will address ownership of assets such as your home or a family business.

Considerations for Homes and Businesses During the Property Division Process

During divorce mediation, you and your spouse will work with a neutral mediator to address all of the issues that must be resolved before your marriage can be legally dissolved. As part of this process, you will make decisions about how you will address all of your marital property, which includes any assets or debts you have acquired during your marriage. Your goal is to reach agreements that will provide each of you with a fair share of your marital property, ensuring that you will both have the financial resources you need to succeed as you move forward after your divorce.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on November 08,2021 in Divorce Mediation

Divorce is an adversarial process. While you and your spouse may have functioned as a team while you were married, now that you have chosen to end your marriage, you will each be looking to protect your own interests. This is necessary, since you will each want to make sure you reach a fair outcome while ensuring that you will be able to move forward with your separate lives. However, even though you and your spouse will no longer be a united front, this does not mean that you need to prepare for high levels of conflict as you complete the process of dissolving your marriage. Instead of fighting legal battles, you may be able to complete your divorce without the need for an attorney.

Most divorces are completed through the creation of a divorce settlement, since the process of divorce litigation can take a great deal of time, and it can be very expensive for both parties. Rather than arguing matters in court, you and your spouse will present the court with an agreed divorce settlement, and after this settlement is approved by a judge, your marriage will be terminated. But how can you get to this point, and how can you make sure you will both be satisfied with your divorce settlement? In many cases, the best way to address these issues is through mediation.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on May 25,2021 in Divorce

70 percent of parents experience stress related to summertime planning, according to a poll of 2,000 parents. Over half the parents polled said they were ready for their kids to go back to school after only one week.

Why are parents so stressed out over summer planning and what can they do about it?

Causes of summertime stress

In many households, both parents work which makes figuring out what to do with the kids when they are home all the time over summer break a major source of stress. Parents identified several key causes:

• Keeping kids busy while the parents are working
• Juggling multiple schedules
• Not having enough money
• Struggling to come up with ideas
• Lack of a convenient place to purchase things to do with their kids

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on May 14,2021 in Child Custody Mediation

You love your children, and you knew when you filed for divorce that you and your ex would always share a connection because of your kids. You might have heard stories from family members or friends who have gone through lengthy court battles regarding child custody issues. That doesn’t mean that it has to be the same in your case. In fact, you don’t even have enter a Texas court; you can choose to mediate your divorce instead.

There are several helpful tips that you can use during mediation to avoid parental conflict. By keeping your children’s best interests in mind, you and your ex can learn to work as a team to resolve any child custody issue that arises during mediation sessions or after you finalize your divorce.

Controlling your emotions is the key to peaceful child custody discussions

Divorce typically evokes a wide range of emotions in people. You might feel at peace and confident about your future on one day, then feel sad or angry the next. In order to avoid co-parenting conflicts, it’s best to reserve child-related discussions for the days that you feel you have control over your emotions and are able to stay calm.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on April 28,2021 in Child Custody Mediation

Determining how you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse intend to raise your children after your divorce requires careful consideration.

When you organize and write down your thoughts before attending mediation, you stand a better chance of remembering points important to you when parenting plan discussions begin.

Exercising control

You know your children better than anyone and certainly better than a judge. Preparing a parenting plan as part of divorce mediation allows you and the other parent to maintain control over the future of your children. You can be sure that your plan addresses their best interests and helps them adapt to new family relationships in the post-divorce world.

Accepting guidance

A trained mediator will provide guidance as you and the other parent work together to create an effective parenting plan the court will approve. Your mediator will offer possible solutions when sticking points arise and keep the negotiations on track as the two of you employ teamwork to develop a parenting plan that addresses the needs of your family.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on April 13,2021 in Divorce

When you got married in a Texas church, courthouse or other location, you no doubt expected to be with your spouse for a lifetime. Whether you’ve been together less than five years or more than a decade, if there are underlying issues in your marriage that are unresolved, it can do a lot of damage to your relationship. There are certain issues, in fact, that many spouses say were causal factors in their divorce.

Just because you experience one or more of these issues does not necessarily mean you will wind up filing for divorce. However, such issues are common among people who do.

Communication, intimacy and loyalty are important in a marriage

Perhaps you and your spouse have drifted apart over time and have found that you don’t have as much in common as you once did. It’s one thing to have different personalities but quite another to feel that your spouse is not supportive of you in your marriage. The following list shows issues that are often precursors to divorce:

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on March 18,2021 in Divorce Mediation

There are a variety of reasons for one spouse to be more stubborn than the other when divorce mediation begins.

The pro-mediation spouse may not know how to handle the problem but the mediator will know what to do.

Emotions play a role

Emotions come to the surface in one way or another during a divorce. Parties who choose mediation normally do so because it is a much calmer, more respectful way of ending a marriage and moving on as compared with litigation. In addition, couples appreciate maintaining control over the outcome instead of having to abide by the decisions of a judge. Still, mediation is a path to divorce, and one spouse may be more emotional, more stubborn and more inclined to fight the inevitable than the other.

The mediator and dispute resolution

Couples who want an amicable divorce work together well during mediation. However, if one of the parties is more obstinate than the other, prefers to nitpick or argue, the mediator will steer the negotiations back on track. There are several ways to do this:

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on March 12,2021 in Divorce

Parenting is undoubtedly both a rewarding and challenging experience in your life. When you decided to file for divorce, you knew from the start that it would have a significant impact on your children’s lives. Like many other parents who can relate to your circumstances, you were determined to cause the least amount of disruption possible, starting with creating a solid co-parenting agreement.

When you choose to mediate your divorce, you and your spouse agree to avoid litigation at all cost. This means that you must agree to peacefully discuss all child custody issues, including where your children will live, whether you will share physical and legal custody and other important matters. There are numerous other issues that you can incorporate into your co-parenting plan, however, to help your children cope with the changes in their lives with as little stress as possible.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on February 24,2021 in Divorce Mediation

An impending divorce brings major concerns and puts you on an emotional roller coaster.

If you and your spouse have decided to mediate your divorce, good planning and organization will keep you focused as you work toward creating a mutually satisfactory agreement.

Gather information

Mediation is a confidential, low-stress process that usually runs smoothly. However, you can help it along by gathering the information you need so as to be ready to work with your soon-to-be-ex on a settlement agreement. The list of documents you will need includes but is not limited to:

• Tax returns
• Pay stubs plus W-2s or 1099s
• Checking, savings and CD accounts and balances
• Retirement accounts and pensions
• Investment information
• Credit card balances
• Live insurance policies
• Outstanding loan information
• Copy of marriage certificate
• Copies of pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreements
• Copies of wills if executed during your marriage

Continue Reading ››