Valentine’s Day may be a good time to take stock of your relationship. Sometimes, the thought of having to spend days like Valentine’s Day without a partner keeps people together even though they are in unhappy couplings. While no relationship is chockfull of chocolate kisses and red roses every day, now is the time to assess, does your relationship have it any day? Is your partner still meeting your needs emotionally, spiritually and physically? Many couples linger for years in a loveless marriage before deciding that enough is enough and they separate or divorce. The message that you are only someone if you have a romantic partner bombards us daily, but particularly around Valentine’s Day, pressuring us to stay in a relationship, even if we are not happy.

If you are looking for information about what exactly it would involve to get divorced, a good place to start is by contacting a divorce mediator. Mediation involves both husband and wife attending meetings to decide how to separate their married life by developing a plan for parenting, child support, division of assets and debts, and alimony. Often, one person is more ready for the divorce to proceed than the other.

We often get phone calls inquiring about mediation with the caller saying that he/she doesn’t really know how divorce works and is looking for information. It could be the first time he/she has said the word divorce out loud and he/she is feeling very overwhelmed. We understand. Part of a mediator's job is to educate you about the divorce process and what mediation can and cannot do for you. We put no pressure on you. Mediation allows you to take control of the process. If you have been unhappy in your relationship, let Valentine’s Day be your day of awakening to start planning a better future.