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Our Mediation Process:
Your Free 30 minute consultation
We will give you a brief overview of the uncontested divorce procedure in Massachusetts and will help you decide if mediation is appropriate for you. If you decide to hire us, you will be matched with an attorney-mediator, experienced in divorce law and alternative dispute resolution, who will be assisting you with your divorce. Please note that while we will be providing you with legal information to assist you with your informed decisions, we cannot provide legal advice and no mediator-client relationship is formed until both spouses have signed an agreement to mediate with us. If you make the decision to work with us, we will send you electronically our intake forms to fill out with the information relevant to the dissolution of your marriage. This form will help you maximize your time with the mediator and speed up the mediation process.
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Intitial 1 Hour Mediation
During this one hour your mediator will review your intake documents to make sure everything relevant to your divorce is in order. It is very important that both of you make good faith disclosures of your circumstances so that all of them are addressed during mediation and in your divorce agreement. Your mediator will then begin a discussion of your divorce settlement with both of you. Please note that, no matter how long we work together, all of the information you have disclosed to your mediator will always remain confidential.
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Subsequent Mediation Sessions
Depending on how complicated your case is, you may need multiple mediation appointments. If your case is relatively simple, it can be resolved in as little as two two-hour appointments. If it is more complicated it is possible that you require six or more sessions. We may be able to give you an estimate of how many appointments it will likley take to reach reasolution.
During these sessions, your mediator will assist you in resolving all aspects of your divorce including:
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Alimony
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Any other issues, important to you
Your mediator will guide you through these discussions in a respectful and supportive manner, ensuring that you are well-informed before making these critical decisions. Once you have reached an agreement, your mediator will provide you with a summary of its terms and, at that point, you can proceed to draft your own Separation Agreement or request that we do so for you.
Drafting of Your Separation Agreement
After your final mediation session, you will be provided with a summary of your agreement, which will need to be incorporated in a Separation Agreement, to be filed with the court. If you choose so, we will draft your Separation Agreement and e-email it to both spouses for review and, if necessary, revisions. Once both of you are satisfied with the agreement, a final copy will be sent to you in pdf form. This service is included in our comprehensive plan. If you have opted to purchase your mediation sessions separately, you will need to book our drafting service separately as well.
For a divorce in Massachusetts, a Separation Agreement needs to be signed, notarized, and then filed with the proper Probate and Family Court Department, together with all appropriate court forms. A Probate and Family Court judge will then review the Separation Agreement and may take several actions: She may approve the Separation Agreement if she finds it to be fair and reasonable given the circumstances; she may also ask that parts of the Separation Agreement be clarified or rewrtitten. While the vast majority of professionally drafted separation agreements do get approved, in some rare occasions, a judge may ask you to revise a clause that she may find to be unfair or unreasonable. If that occurs and you have purchased one of our flat fee divorce agreement drafting plans, we will make one additional revision of your divorce agreement, free of charge.
If you do not want to do the drafting on your own, you may purchase one of our comprehensive divorce plans, and we will prepare your separation agreement for you. In many occassions that is the most cost effective and least stressful way to handle your divorce. You will also be provided with a complete packet of forms you will need to file in order to start an uncontested divorce action. Once all of your documents are filed in court, you will be scheduled for a hearing within a short period of time. During that hearing the judge may ask you several question regarding your marriage, your custody agreement, or your children, before grantinf your divorce. That will be your one and only time you will need to appear before a judge. 120 days after judgement was entered, your divorce will become final.
