All aspects of family law, including:

--Marital Dissolution
--Prenuptial Agreements and Post-Nuptial Agreements
--Property division
--Child support
--Spousal support
--Child custody and visitation
--Moveaways
--Domestic Violence
--Post-judgment modifications

Mr. Gershenson also handles business litigation and personal injury cases on a selective basis.

Mark Gershenson has been practicing law since 1982. He began in practice in Los Angeles, where he eventually became a partner in a large (albeit now-defunct) Century City law firm. He has been in sole practice in Palm Springs since 1993. He devotes approximately 90 percent of his professional life to family law.

He is a licensed private pilot.

Emory University School of Law, Atlanta, GA, J.D. 1979

Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, B.A. 1974

State Bar of California

State Bar of Georgia (inactive)

Los Angeles County Bar Association

Desert Bar Association (past Chair, Family Law Section, and past Editor (and ongoing contributor to) the Section's newsletter)

Member, Indio Superior Court's Family Law Mediation Panel

Mediation offers divorcing couples the opportunity to fashion their own divorce settlement with professional guidance, yet without the acrimony and great expense involved in fighting it out in court.

When you litigate, you abdicate control over your case and hand that control over to the judge. The judge may make a decision that neither of you like. The judge may not have all of the relevant facts. Moreover, the judge is limited by what the law provides. In certain instances, a more creative resolution may be in both parties' interest. They can reach such a solution through mediation, but not by going to court.

Professional fees in mediation are usually substantially lower than in a litigated case. Moreover, the chances of the parties winding up on sufficiently good terms that they can effectively co-parent their children and dance at their children's weddings are significantly increased.

With the current budget situation in California, courts are under great financial pressure. Here in Riverside County, the creation of new judgeships and courtrooms has not remotely kept pace with increase in population. Facing heavy calendars in family law, bench officers often do not have the luxury to give any particular case the time and attention it might warrant. By hiring a trained mediator, divorcing couples can sidestep these problems and conclude their divorce quickly and with civility and mutual respect.