When considering or going through a divorce, a legal separation, have post-divorce problems or are unmarried parents, mediation is a good option. It allows couples to keep the power of decision making in their hands and can often take the place of a significant part of the court system, specifically on how they will co-parent, custody, visitation, financial support for the children and how they will divide up their martial assets, versus allowing a judge and the court make these critical decisions for them.

The most productive and cost effective option is to begin the mediation process early, preferably before any court filing has been done and before attorneys have been hired, however mediation can work as effectively if attorneys are already involved and a case has already been filed, so legal representation is optional and not required. The American Arbitration Association reports over 85% of all mediations come to agreement and are settled and we find that most mediations are completed in one session.

Mediation is a voluntary and confidential approach to finding common ground with all decisions made by the parties with informed consent to make sure everyone understands all of the implications of their decisions, mediators do not make decisions for them. The mediators’ role is to be an impartial and balanced facilitator guiding the process of fostering communication, being an educator of certain issues, providing creative and innovative solutions, and keeping things on track. They also play an essential role in helping the parties evaluate complex matters as well as the logistics needed to make sure all options considered are actually workable solutions.

Co-mediation is where there at least two mediators who work together to facilitate the mediation process. Our firm, the Mediation and Dispute Resolution, LLC in Tulsa Oklahoma, uses male/female teams for our divorce co-mediation sessions and we are one of the few firms who offer co-mediation at no additional costs to our clients, where many firms will provide co-mediation at a rate double that of the normal mediation rate.

When you combine the diversity, experience and skills of two people, it is much easier to encourage open and honest communication, build solid trust, rapport, confidence, determine the underlying concerns and interests and find the true common ground needed to come to workable solutions, which lead to agreements. Two mediators can provide enhanced problem solving and brainstorming that often leads to creative solutions to what can often be extremely complex and complicated issues. We find that when using male/female teams, it provides for gender balance which improves the overall comfort level of both parties, especially when dealing with what can often be emotionally charged and difficult situations. Finally, we find that co-mediation saves our clients’ money because it provides for higher efficiency and effectiveness, which typically allows for the mediation process to take less time overall. We are passionate about helping people through some of the most difficult times in their lives and fervently have confidence and faith in the proverb attributed to John Heywood in the year 1546 that; "two heads are better than one."