RI Marriage & Family Divorce Mediation

Every divorce involves restructuring family and finances and almost every divorce starts out with differences of opinion. We help divorcing and separating clients resolve conflict so they can move forward. We can help you reach agreement in your divorce and separation in a respectful and cost-effectivemanner, where you and your spouse make the decisions about your future and your children's future. You can probably make much better decisions for yourself and your children than a stranger ever could. Yet, reaching common ground that meets the needs of all can be challenging without professional facilitation, guidance, assistance, and education. Our sole focus is to help by providing the facilitation, guidance, and assistance you need to help you reach consensus in your divorce so you can move forward in your life.

A Divorce Resolution Is Better for Children

By helping divorcing parents preserve a working relationship,Collaborative Divorce allows parents to reach better solutions for their children and to build a new and better co-parenting relationship for their future. In our experience, parents rarely work better together after a child custody or visitation fight in court, and the children are often victims of a court battle in their parents' divorce. We all know that children learn from their parents, including lessons drawn from how they observe their parents handling their divorce or separation. Collaborative Divorce is family-focused divorce, and allows the opportunity for parents to work together to build a healthy and cooperative parenting partnership and to model for their children how to best resolve conflict.

Divorce Court Has Limits in Its Ability to Restructure Families

Most divorce lawyers and judges will tell you that courts are far from ideal for the task of restructuring families. In divorce court, intimate details of a couple's finances and other matters are presented to a judge or court commissioner who makes life-altering decisions based on the law as guided by arguments made by the divorce lawyers and a limited amount of evidence that lawyers may present under court rules and laws. Even when the divorce laws provides clear guidance (often the law does not), the law may not be a good fit for your family's unique circumstances. Divorce court proceedings are often very expensive, the outcome is often uncertain and unpredictable, and the emotional toll can be great. Often, no one wins. A court fight (even on a motion for a temporary parenting plan (custody and visitation), alimony/spousal maintenance or child support) usually does not make divorcing spouses better able to co-parent after the court fight is over. Even when there is a divorce settlement after bartering-style negotiations, the legal maneuverings and positioning that preceded the settlement can often cause unnecessary pain and resentment and contribute to future problems. While the court provides a necessary service when needed, it is best to avoid court involvement in your divorce if possible.