Divorce Lawyer and Mediator. If you’re going through a divorce, you’re going to need to hire a divorce lawyer to walk you through the process and ensure the best possible outcome. Depending on your case’s particulars, you may also require help from a qualified mediator so that everything goes as smoothly as possible. But wait — isn’t that the lawyer’s job, too?
No, it’s not. While a divorce lawyer and mediator are both in the business of conflict resolution, and while many mediators are lawyers, their professions and roles in your divorce case are vastly different.
Divorce lawyer and mediator: what’s the difference?
A divorce lawyer can only represent one party in a case. If you hired one, their job is to advocate for you — and only you — to achieve the best possible outcome. Conversely, your spouse must hire their own lawyer to advocate for them if they want legal advice. Lawyers are trained to know, understand, and defend every nuance of family law, from divorce and child custody to child support, adoption, alimony, property division, and more.
Just a few of their basic duties include:
- Understanding the facts of your case and providing information regarding your rights and duties based upon your facts
- Representing you in Court; presenting evidence in support of your position, and speaking to the Court on your behalf
- Gathering supporting evidence to support your legal positions/outcome desired
- Negotiating terms for child custody and child support as well as division of assets and debt
- Advising you about demands that may put you at a disadvantage
- Answering questions and help you understand how the law applies to your case
- Give sound, practical advice when it matters most
Mediator role
While a mediator can also be a lawyer, they are not there to choose sides or advocate for one party over the other. A mediator also does not provide legal advice, represent you in Court, set terms, or decide the outcome of your case. They are part of a broader alternative dispute resolution process where the goal is to settle common disputes between spouses amicably outside of the courtroom (without litigation). Mediators allow the parties to understand each other’s positions and needs while assisting the parties in coming up with a creative solution to their case.
Just a few of their basic duties include:
- Actively facilitate the negotiation process, providing a calm setting for cooler heads to prevail
- Facilitating communication between spouses and focusing the parties on commonalities rather than differences.
- Empowering clients to make their own decisions
- Educating all parties on the process and available options
- Keeping conversations in the mediation process confidential
If successful, the mediator will monitor the drafting of the binding agreement that will be signed by all parties before you leave mediation that will contain the essential terms of the final court order.
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Many spousal conflicts can be remedied through mediation, making the divorce process itself much smoother in comparison to battling over every small detail in Court. Other divorce issues require the skilled hand of a lawyer, especially those that involve domestic violence or have spouses that refuse to see eye to eye.
Give our knowledgeable staff at Nelson Law Group, PC a call if you have any further questions regarding this or any other issue. Give us a call today! For more information about Brett A. Nelson, click here.
