When you’re faced with divorce, whether you have made the decision on your own to divorce your spouse or your spouse has told you they want the divorce, you are beginning a process that has a significant financial impact the next phase of your life. You will find yourself making the biggest legal and financial decisions of your life at what is most likely one of your worst moments in life. It is very difficult to make important legal and financial decisions when you are overwhelmed by grief, anger, frustration and/or rage. Before you go down the rabbit hole of rage and revenge, think about where you want your money to go. Do you want to spend many thousands of dollars and potentially multiple years of your life litigating your case in family court? Or, would you prefer to save those funds for the next chapter of your life and mediate your case with an experienced mediator?
A recent article in the New York Times- “Can Divorce Be Affordable? Yes, But Only if Spouses Want it To”- addresses these questions and reviews different options for divorce. The article compares mediation with litigation and a hybrid process called collaborative law. This article provides some interesting examples of these options and shows, in particular, how mediation can make your divorce affordable and peaceful if you choose to commit to the mediation process.