New Albany, IN, Family Mediation Attorney

Family Law Mediation Can Provide for a More Peaceful Future

When families separate, emotions run high. Lost dreams and anger mix with hurt feelings and sadness. Amid this family chaos, it is critical to sort out some very practical things. For many, family law mediation can help your family move forward by working together toward mutually acceptable decisions.

If you want to know more about how this process may benefit you, contact a New Albany, IN, family mediation attorney from the Church, Langdon, Lopp, Banet (CLLB) Law Firm. We offer caring, experienced services to ease your burden.

Family Law Mediation is Effective

Animosity can run high during a divorce, but adults must put their feelings aside to make an honest attempt to decide the future. Judges know little about your family, yet will make decisions in the courtroom that will affect you and your loved ones for the rest of your lives.

Working with a family law mediator helps to lower the temperature of disagreements and creates a safe and structured space in which requests can be exchanged and mutually agreed upon solutions are fine-tuned.

Custody of the children, housing arrangements, and the legalities of divorce must all be addressed. With family mediation, you focus on what is important and work towards solutions together.

With the assistance of a seasoned mediation professional, couples can reach creative agreements regarding:

• Custody
• Child support
• Divorce
• And assets that are designed to fit their own family’s unique needs.

An experienced family mediation attorney can help guide you through the process.

How CLLB Family Mediation Attorneys Can Help You

Our New Albany family lawyers benefit from extensive training and experience in family law mediation, having helped clients in Indiana for many years. But we’re not only limited to Indiana. We also have offices in Kentucky. Our Louisville family law attorneys have also assisted many families through this difficult situation.

Attorney Dana Eberle is knowledgeable and compassionate, recognizing the value of mutually agreed-upon solutions. She also understands how to help families reach agreements and move forward with their lives. Each family mediation lawyer with our firm is committed to resolving matters as economically and quickly as possible.

We offer a wealth of experience in negotiation and conflict resolution. With detailed analysis and presentation of the facts, we can offer effective outcomes that are a valuable mix of compromise and fairness for all parties.

How Does Family Law Mediation Work?

Healthy family mediation in Indiana starts with an assessment of your case to find a middle ground all parties can live with. The goal is to avoid the risks inherent in judge-ordered divorces and custody arrangements while reaching agreements that are workable for everyone.

There is no “winner” or “loser” in family law mediation. The mediator assists each party in confidentially communicating their concerns and needs. With support from the mediator, the parties can:

• Identify the matters that need to be resolved.
• Prioritize the issues and examine them one at a time.
• Discuss potential solutions.
• Come to a mutual understanding about all their concerns.
• Prepare a draft of their emerging agreement.
• Revise, edit, and prepare the agreement for signing.

Why Do I Need a Family Law Mediation Attorney?

The most effective family mediation attorneys have extensive training in working with families and the law. In addition, Indiana law requires that mediators complete training before they are allowed to conduct mediation sessions.

Family mediation lawyers have built their abilities by listening closely to family needs and applying the law as favorably as possible.

Our attorneys specialize in discovering solutions and creating agreements everyone can feel comfortable about. We are beside you at the table throughout the mediation process.

Mediation and Divorce

Mediation through a third-party negotiator is a common method of negotiating a divorce settlement. Instead of an impersonal judge imposing decisions based on rigid legal principles, divorce mediation enables spouses to work out a settlement they both consider fair and workable.

Your mediator is impartial and does not make decisions – they simply facilitate. Both spouses’ attorneys are present, working with the facilitator in a structured, peaceful, and meaningful process. A mediator can also be very helpful (and often even required) when neither party has an attorney. Divorce mediation can be cheaper and faster than going to court.

Divorce mediation may not be appropriate when there has been domestic violence or abuse. In such cases, a formal order that prevents the abuse victim from having any contact with the abusing spouse is often best.

Mediation and Child Custody

Most parents want to protect their children and do what is best for them, but each spouse may have a vastly different idea about this. Mediation can help find child custody solutions amid the emotional chaos surrounding these decisions.

A structured, quiet, and private mediation environment can be helpful. Mediation is a non-adversarial approach to problem-solving, often arriving at solutions in a day rather than the months or years it can take for a trial judge to finalize child custody decisions.

With mediation’s non-adversarial approach, parties often speak more freely and are more willing to compromise. Using mediation can help set the tone for your relationships going forward, especially with under-age children.

Parents must communicate regularly about drop-off and pick-up times, school issues, and vacations. When less damage is done during divorce and child-custody decisions, there is a better chance of constructive co-parenting.

Mediation And Child Support

Discussions about money during divorce often bring tension, bitterness, mistrust, and blame. A structured mediation process for child support issues benefits ex-spouses and is less stressful for the children. Acrimonious and drawn-out child support disagreements in court can make the children feel they are at fault.

Family law mediation for child support is preferable to testimony and legal documents in courtrooms for several reasons:

• Mediation produces no public records that can be read months or years later by family members, grown children, or others.
• Mediation is often less expensive than court and takes less time.
• You and your ex-spouse make final decisions with mediation instead of having them made by an impartial judge.

Mediators are skilled, trained, and professional. They are often able to bring parties together to reach a solution for the sake of the children.

The Cornerstones of Family Law Mediation

Family law mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution. This means that it is an alternative to conventional lawsuits, judges, and courtrooms. Its purpose is to provide a reliable and efficient structure for families to iron out disagreements and reach resolutions.

In the view of family mediation, everybody has already been hurt enough. No more damage needs to be done.

Family law mediation is based on these principles:

• Voluntariness
• Transparency
• Mutual respect.

Family mediation is non-confrontational at its core and is viewed as a progressive form of decision-making. It encourages parties to focus on the solution and the future rather than staying stuck in the problem and the past.

It is also designed to put an end to the emotional wreckage rather than creating more of it. Solutions are proactively sought so that everyone can be free to move on. Family law mediation has evolved both publicly and privately throughout the world in different countries.

It is often the preferred dispute resolution method of modern families. Courts often order parties to mediation prior to a full-blown hearing. It can be a healthier and less stressful solution not only for the two parties involved but for extended family and friends as well.

The Role of the Mediator

A mediator is not a judge and does not make any decisions. Their primary goal is to support both parties in creating an agreement with which they mutually can live. Unlike judges, mediators often create unique agreements that deviate from the norm because they are tailor-made by the couple to fit their children’s personalities, the family budget, and school considerations.

Mediators are expected to meet individually with each side and actively listen to each party’s concerns and desires. The process is designed so everyone benefits, not just one side.

Mediation Has Positive Effects on Children

When mediation is chosen over litigation, it can have an incredibly positive effect on home life. It is comforting for children to watch their parents collaborate and reach solutions together. It sets a tone in the home of respect, civility, and dignity. No party is scapegoated or blamed incessantly.

Children can feel safe knowing that each parent is acting with and being treated with respect and consideration. Also, mature children can discuss their preferences about when and where they live with each parent and feel that this is being taken into consideration. This collaboration allows children to sleep at night, go on with schoolwork, and spend time with friends without worrying about their parents fighting.

Attorney Larry Church

For more than 25 years, Larry has devoted himself to representing his clients with great skill and commitment while never forgetting that not only his clients, but those opposing them, are first and foremost people who deserve to be treated fairly and with respect. Primarily, Larry is a trial lawyer. Over his career, he has represented clients whose disputes range from a few hundred dollars to millions of dollars. [ Attorney Bio ]