Divorce Mediation San Francisco | Affordable & Confidential
Divorce is stressful enough. Work with top divorce mediators Dina & Samira to take control of your case in San Francisco offering the most comprehensive divorce mediation services.
What is Divorce Mediation in San Francisco?
Divorce mediation is an alternative dispute resolution method to obtain a divorce in San Francisco without stepping into court. San Francisco celebrity couples, over the years, have used this method to get a divorce because it has kept their matter private and confidential. Private and confidential? Yes, it is the best feature, as mediation sessions are not recorded. While traditional court divorce proceedings are recorded and become part of the public. Mediators are neutral professionals who assist the spouses in resolving all matters in their divorce. Attorney mediators are very comfortable with providing calculations like support calculations, and asset buyouts, and may even be able to assist you with more complicated matters like employee stock benefits (RSUs, PSUs, Stock Options, and ESPP).
Divorce mediators facilitate the negotiation for Property Division, Separate Property claims, Shared Debts and Liabilities, Child custody, Child Support, Spousal support, Future support modification, and much more.
Mediated Divorces are also cost-effective. In general, mediation takes less time to settle for any other divorcing option for San Francisco married couples.
If you are considering mediation, consider Families First Mediation mediators, who have vast experience in San Francisco divorce mediation and family law. They believe that a successful mediated divorce results in a quality, long-lasting agreement. They offer a free initial consultation, which they use to get to know you and your concerns and provide you with a plan for your divorce success.
This blog discusses mediation, the five stages of divorce mediation, and commonly asked questions about the mediated settlement.
The 5 Stages of Divorce Mediation: A Step-by-Step Guide for San Francisco Bay Area Couples
You can only win at mediation with a good and professional mediator. Choosing an impartial, affordable, experienced, and compassionate mediator is important. Here are five important qualities to check for when interviewing a divorce mediator:
Mediation Process and Laying the Foundation
The introductory stage sets the foundation of the entire mediation process. In this stage, the mediator may talk about the basics of mediation: the mediator’s role and how spouses should behave in the entire mediation to make it successful. A mediator may introduce you to the length of each session, payment methods, and agendas if you have not done an initial meeting with a mediator. A skilled mediator usually takes questions (from the spouses regarding their problems). At stage 1, a mediator can ask couples the following questions.
- Do you have children?
- What assets do you have?
- How long have you been married?
- Are there other issues you want to discuss?
- What are your individual goals for the mediation?
- Have you and your spouses been involved in domestic violence?
- What is the age of your children, and what are their needs?
- Are you both couples willing to cooperate to settle?
Much of this is covered in the Free Consultation at Families First Mediation
Listing Assets and Gathering Information
It is the discovery stage. In this stage, the mediator collects the relevant facts and gathers information regarding financials because verifiable and accurate information results in a productive mediation. At Families First Mediation, we use our proprietary method in collecting information to reduce your overall costs and fees and provide the Mediator with what she needs to assist you.
For financials, the mediator will need evidence of your income. This will include your last pay stubs or W-2s; and if you are self-employed a Schedule C or profit and loss statement. For asset disclosures, the mediator will need recent statements for bank accounts, retirements, and brokerage accounts. You will also want to provide documents that support any of your separate property claims. The mediator will continue to guide the spouses on what each party needs to provide to complete the disclosure requirements or to help with the negotiations. For example, you may need to provide documents to verify your separate contributions to your retirement account.
Framing the Issues
The next stage in mediation is framing the issue. San Francisco mediators will focus on identifying the issues at which disagreement exists and the underlying concerns and interests behind disagreements. The mediator may explain the family laws that apply to your divorce situation to help create room for negotiation. She may try to understand your view on how your marital property should be divided or what your concerns are regarding child custody and spousal support. Some mediators manage the framing stage jointly with both spouses. Other mediators may manage separate meetings if one spouse feels uncomfortable sitting together. At Families First Mediation, we seamlessly combine the stages so that our couples benefit from the opportunities to discuss their matter and negotiate.
Negotiating the Divorce
The purpose of the negotiation stage is to help couples to settle issues. You can think of the negotiating stage as a give-and-take. Therefore, spouses who reach this phase with the mindset to work together and solve problems result in a productive mediation. By the time you are negotiating, you should have a very good idea of the laws surrounding that topic as well as the options available to you to resolve your situation. In this stage, the Mediators use their training and skills to help couples brainstorm creative solutions so that one spouse’s gain is not the other spouse’s loss, which requires both spouses to have a cooperative attitude. We truly believe that mediation is not a place for compromise, but creating quality agreements that uniquely address the parties’ concerns. The length of this stage varies depending on the spouse’s negotiation skills and the mediator’s skills.
The expert mediators help spouses negotiate on these common issues:
- Fair division of property
- Transfer of investments and tax implications
- Living arrangements for children
- The amount and duration of spousal support
- Child custody and visitation issues
- Division of joint debts
- Spousal support and financial assistance (based on Income, Marriage Duration, and Childcare).
Finalizing the Settlement and Concluding Divorce Mediation
Stage 5 concludes the mediation process. Attorney mediators draft an agreement known as the Marital Settlement Agreement after the couples agree on all divorce issues. Then, the mediator allows both spouses to review the written agreement before they sign it to make it a binding agreement. In an effective mediation, couples sign the settlement agreement without delay. The next step is to file a settlement agreement with the court. The court has to review it for legal correctness before issuing a final divorce judgment. You can file this through the attorney mediator. If you do use an attorney-mediator, you likely will not need to hire a divorce attorney to assist you with filing the MSA. Our Families First Mediation (attorney) Mediators have successfully helped thousands of couples mediate. Our mediators understand the legal framework of San Francisco and the court procedures.
Meet Your Future Mediation Team
Dina Haddad, Esq.
Principal & Founder Attorney-Mediator
Dina is the founder and principal of Families First Mediation. Her mission is make A-class services available to clients at all socio-economic levels by providing her commitment to excellence at a fraction of the cost of traditional divorce options.
She has practiced family law in both Southern and Northern California, at some of the most prestigious law firms. She completed post-doctorate law degree in mediation, a Masters in Law in Alternate Dispute Resolution from the premier Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. For more than 9 consecutive years, Straus was ranked the number one dispute resolution program by U.S. News and World Report. Straus received this honor again for 2018. Very few mediators, particularly in family law, have this unique training.
Samira Amato, Esq.
Deborah Yamashiro
Elizabeth Stephens
Katherine Pearson
Families First Mediation Process
1
Start A Divorce
We will prepare and file the Petition and Response for the divorce or legal separation for you. These papers start your divorce case.
2
Mediate An Agreement
You will meet with the attorney-mediator and your spouse in working sessions. On average, parties need 6 sessions. The attorney-mediator will help you understand the law and provide you options for property division, parenting and child and spousal support. Using that information, the attorney-mediator will guide you to an agreement. We are looking for results that you understand and work for you, each other, and your family - both today and for your future.
3
Complete Disclosures
For every divorce and legal separation, you must exchange and complete financial disclosures. We will guide you through them so they are exchanged and done correctly
4
Divorce Judgment
We will put your agreements together in a final agreement, known as an MSA. We submit this to court to become your divorce judgment.
See What Our Clients Say About Us
Learn more about Divorce Mediation and how it can help your family
F.A.Q
Virtual Sessions
Our mediation sessions are virtual. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, we offered virtual sessions and relied heavily on technology to offer the best services to our clients and keep their costs down. We rely on secure methods to share documents, online calendaring, electronic payment options and other useful integrations. Unlike other divorce practices, you won’t find charges on your invoice for us to file or print your documents to paper.
You can find a reputable divorce mediator in California by doing these steps:
- • Search on Google or browse through online legal directories
- • Reach out to family attorneys in Los Angeles and ask for referrals.
- • Read and review the testimonials of mediators once you find them.
The mediator can understand your case (suitability of mediation to you) and divorce issues in a free video consultation. Additionally, they can communicate their strategies to resolve your disputes, their role as a neutral facilitator, and the risks associated with your divorce. You can also learn about their fee model in an initial discussion. In short, you can use the free video consultation for maximum benefit without spending money.
- • Gather a basic understanding of the mediation process
- • Familiarize yourself with your mediation concern to a mediator and know about different solutions.
- • Evaluate the mediator regarding his communication, problem-solving skills, and suitability to your scenario.
- • Use this strategy and get at the win-and-win situation before investing in mediation
The number of sessions required in your mediation for simple divorce or complex cases can vary. The more complications there are, the more sessions will be required. Likewise, the couple’s willingness to compromise, complexity, information gathering (process), expert consultations, and mediator experience may also influence the number of sessions. Our Families First Mediations couples average 5–6 sessions. Here is a breakdown of the expected number of sessions based on the case types.
- • Simple cases: 3–5 sessions
- • Mid-size cases: 4–8 sessions
- • Highly complex Cases: 8–12+
The following are the pros and cons of mediation in divorce.
Pros
- • Confidential
- • Time effective
- • Post-divorce stability
- • Voluntary, informal and flexible
- • More control over the outcome
- • Collaborative and peaceful nature
- • Inexpensive process(both parties can collectively pay the fees of a mediator)
Cons
- • Can’t work for high conflict cases
- • Does not work for uncooperative couples
- • Lacks legal advocacy (mediator just mediates and doesn’t advocate for parties, unless the parties retain consulting attorneys)
- • Doesn’t work for couples with power imbalance (unless the mediator is able to neutralize)
No, mediation and collaborative divorce are entirely different approaches to divorcing. Both are processes to divorce in California, without stepping into court, yet these options differ in the process, (number of) professionals involved, and costs.
- • In mediation, both parties have one mediator, while in a collaborative divorce, each party retains his/her attorney.
- • In mediation, you work directly with the mediator. In collaborative practice, you work in a team approach. The number of professionals in the team varies, but can include a mental health professional and financial expert.
- • Mediation is generally cheaper than collaborative divorce because collaborative typically requires a team which is more costly based on the number of professionals. Additionally, teams tend to move slower (costing more) than a more streamlined service like mediation.
- • A mediator in mediation stays neutral. The mediator neither advocates in the court nor for the parties. They just mediate for both divorcing parties. In collaborative divorce, each party’s attorney advocates for its party.
