Why Do Judges Order Mediation
DIVORCE 911 collaborated with Jennifer Keaton of 2 Step Divorces.
We also have a video covering this topic.
Judges in the state of Georgia are actually required to order most parties to attend mediation before they go to trial. So, it’s a mediate now or mediate later situation for most families. It’s a court rule. The other reason is that it works. Most divorces do settle in the state of Georgia. In a divorce, there’s a lot of grey area with all of the different factors that most judges consider. How they determine their outcome is going to be very specific to each judge. Figuring out what that judge is going to do (versus what you would like to see) and have some control over the outcome is important. This is especially true if you have kids. You want to have that customized solution. That’s another reason mediation works and why courts use it. Of course, they also get the benefit of a smaller docket and less work to do when people can resolve their own terms of their divorces.
Hiring an expert in mediation services like what is discussed above is really the better decision. The court is going to order it anyway. It helps narrow down the time you have to spend in court. If you‘ve figured out things such as finances before you go to court everything is that much easier to handle. It allows the parties to have control over the process. There is something to be said for having control and certainty and knowing where the chips are going to fall. There are some things you can get from a mediation that you can’t get in a courthouse because the judges are handcuffed by the terms of the law. They deal with the “What Side” of the divorce. ie…“What Side” of the fence is going to get the car, the furniture, the 2nd home, etc…but how that transpires is completely different.
So having control over how and stepping through a timeline of how the two lives get teased apart into two units can be a pretty big deal particularly when there are kids.
Mediation does afford both parties more control over their futures.