Submitted by Dent on Mon, 09/19/2011 - 12:49
In the interest of our children and of keeping things as "nice" as possible, my wife would like us to try divorce mediation as opposed to the traditional divorce route to work out some issue regarding custody and support. I'm fine with trying, but my wife has a temper and a history of blowing up whenever we try to discuss these issues and we end up screaming at each other. To me that doesn't sound like an ideal situation for mediation. My wife suggested that maybe we could do separate mediation sessions initially until we reach a point were the mediator is ready to bring us together into joint sessions. Is that possible?
Solo mediation sessions for husband and wife
Well, as I discuss in this post regarding the divorce mediation process, each mediator probably has a slightly different approach to mediation. Accordingly, anything is possible. I invite other attorneys or mediators to correct me, but I believe mediation, by its very design, is intended to be a collaborative process where both parties work together to come to one or more resolutions. It seems to me that, if you and your wife can't even be in the same room, then you may have difficulty with mediation. Perhaps you should talk to a one or more mediators and see how they react to your request. I suppose if the mutually accepted goal is to, ultimately, get you in the same room and to discuss the issues that are remaining between you, then why not give it a try? Naturally, the additional solo sessions will likely add to the overall cost of the mediation. Good luck.