Providing Divorce Mediation Services Throughout California
Providing Divorce Mediation Services Throughout California
When parties find themselves in costly litigation, preparing for trial, or ready to try a more effective process, they still have an opportunity to settle their divorce matter, without continuing in the courts.
A private settlement conference is a better and more efficient way to settle your family law action compared to mandatory settlement conference.
A private settlement conference is a voluntary, focused, and modern option, created for only one purpose: to assist you and your attorney to reach a binding settlement with the opposing side, on your family law action without trial.
With decades of experience as a settlement mediator in California, our settlement mediators provide the expert assistance you need to work through complicated negotiations, and draft and finalize your settlement agreement.
Attend from wherever you are in California. Avoid the expense of going to the courthouse.
Uninterrupted time blocks of time are dedicated to the resolution process.
A 30-minute call with counsel ensures we are ready to start on settlement day.
Our expert settlement mediator helps you focus your time and efforts to bring high-quality and practical agreements.
We understand the busy schedules of modern attorneys and their clients.
A formal settlement agreement can be prepared the day of your settlement or shortly after the settlement conference.
Private settlement conferences are a small fraction of the cost of a formal mandatory settlement conference or trial.
Each and every minute is specifically structured to avoid a court trial, and reach finality.
When you choose a voluntary family law settlement conference, you are in the driver’s seat. Unlike a court-imposed resolution, this private dispute process is designed to be conducted efficiently, in a comfortable environment, and ultimately, reach a sustainable resolution on your terms. The advantages of a private settlement conference over a mandatory settlement conference are considerable.
Our virtual settlement conferences are designed in a way that they allow you and your team to participate from the comfort of your home or office unlike the MSC – ordered by a court – requires all parties to travel to the courthouse and wait there.
In a private settlement conference you don’t need to pay for your entire legal team to travel, or find parking and other fees that can arise. While in the MSC you pay your attorney’s hourly rate for their time spent traveling to and returning from the courthouse for a short session.
We will schedule a half-day or full-day conference time that works for all parties, rather than as the court is open. On the other hand, in MSC, the court sets the date and time of your conference – giving you no flexibility around your timeline.
At Families First Mediation, we design the day to be as collaborative as possible, without the worry of an approaching trial date. The volunteer attorney at a court MSC has a limited time (rarely more than an hour) and their decisions are non-binding.
The private conferences feel less litigious– giving participants the opportunity to be more open and collaborative to work toward solutions. The MSC feels more like a formal and discrete trial and may exacerbate the levels of conflict and prevent engaging in true negotiation.
You sidestep the worry of a courtroom setting and can participate from the comfort of a familiar space. Conversely, in the MSC, you’ve to deal with courthouse security and being in a formal public building adds to the emotional stress.
A voluntary settlement conference is a highly effective way to resolve nearly every contested issue in a divorce or legal separation. As a private settlement officer, we conduct focused negotiations among the parties and their attorneys to achieve a complete settlement of every aspect of your family law case, including child custody and the division of property.
We will assist the parties in resolving the final terms of their divorce. We will address all necessary issues to avoid court disputes, and to resolve the case with a final judgment.
For couples who want to formalize their separation without a termination of marriage, we can negotiate binding terms of support, custody, and property division and create a settlement agreement.
We create and mediate the terms of postnuptial agreements, or resolve disputes over existing prenuptial or postnuptial agreements, if necessary.
We engage in negotiations regarding the amount, duration, and terms of support payments, as well as negotiating the conditions for potential modification or termination of spousal support.
Our conferences will cover California guideline calculations, verification of either parent's income, and how substantial changes in circumstances or shared custody will affect the child support obligation.
We will help you negotiate specific binding terms in a settlement that address your safety concerns along with parenting arrangements, if any, to assist with issues involving domestic violence or a restraining order.
This includes identifying, valuing, and negotiating the division of all community assets, as well as debts, including real estate, businesses, retirement accounts, and personal property.
We mediate complex issues of legal and physical custody and develop written parenting plans and visitation schedules that keep children's best interests in mind, while providing both parents with clarity.
We have an organized process for one purpose, to efficiently obtain a binding settlement agreement for your client.
Choosing the correct neutral is crucial. You will select an experienced private settlement officer based on their experience, rather than being assigned one by a court.
All parties involved submit a brief, confidential summary. A briefing call lasting at least 30 minutes is then held with the parties and counsel to assess strategy and go over goals.
We work to ensure a half or full-day session on everyone’s calendar and formally establish the specific issues to be discussed.
The settlement mediator (Dina) will start the virtual conference and provide the rules and agenda to all the participants present.
Dina conducts negotiations, going into private virtual breakout rooms with each party and their lawyer to reach an agreement on each issue.
Once you have agreed to all terms, Dina composes a binding memorandum of settlement, or formal agreement, and captures the specificity of the contract, before ending the conference.
A voluntary conference refers to a process that is private, controlled by the client, and entirely at the client’s discretion. A mandatory conference involves a formal session that is court-initiated and mandated for attendance before trial.
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Feature
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Voluntary Settlement Conference
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Mandatory Settlement Conference (MSC)
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|---|---|---|
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Initiation
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Voluntarily chosen by parties and counsel
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Ordered by the court as a required step
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Location
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Fully virtual from any location
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In-person at the courthouse
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Cost
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Fixed fee for half/full day session
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Billable hours for travel and waiting time
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Scheduling
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Flexible, based on all parties' availability
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Set by the court's crowded calendar
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Format
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Collaborative and focused on problem-solving
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Formal and often adversarial
|
|
Mediator
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Your chosen private settlement officer
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A court-assigned volunteer attorney
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We provide virtual services for family law settlement conferences for progressive legal professionals and their clients looking for efficiency, expertise, and modernity in the way they resolve disputes.
This service is designed for counsels in search of a highly skilled, readily available private settlement officer who can assist with securing settlements for clients in an efficient, timely manner and outside of court.
We also work directly with parties who want a clear pathway to resolving their matter without lengthy public courtroom litigation. This is usually a good option for:
Families First Mediation is trusted and praised by attorneys and peers across California.
I had the pleasure of working with Ms. Haddad in the past, witnessing first hand her high level of professionalism and passion for her work. Ms. Haddad is charismatic, thorough, diligent, and truly goes the extra mile for her clients…
Dina Haddad brings a refreshing perspective to the often difficult process of a marriage dissolution. This very difficult time in a person’s life can be often made worse through a very litigious process. Dina and the staff at Family First Divorce…
Be prepared and have a clear understanding of your priorities and bottom lines. Your lawyer will advocate for you, and the mediator who is facilitating the settlement process will often engage in shuttle diplomacy between virtual breakout rooms.
Our private conferences are half-day (3.5 hours) and full-day (7-hour) segments. The time is reserved for the parties to return feedback and decide on an agreement, unlike a preliminary court MSC meeting which has a limited amount of time.
The conference is not binding in and of itself. However, the terms agreed to and signed in the subsequent settlement agreement and/or memorandum of understanding are legally binding in accordance with contract law.
The primary issue is the cost if no agreement is reached. While this cost is normally less than going forward with a court trial, most conferences are successful and result in a full or partial settlement.
They are very successful when done with experienced private settlement officers. The longer, more focused conferencing process and the parties’ voluntary participation provide a greater opportunity for full settlement.
