Articles for Everyone
10 Ways To Keep Your (Re) Marriage Alive And Well
By Vicki Shemin | Keeping a marriage strong requires attention and thought. Sometimes marriage mediation to manage difficult issues provides crucial help.
Family Mediation Makes Creative, Detailed Solutions Possible
By Virginia L Colin | Despite the pain of their separation, numerous misunderstandings, and frightening arguments, this mom and dad made a plan that protected their child.
Child Inclusive Mediation: Research on Views of the Child Reports in Ontario
By Rachel Birnbaum and Nick Bala | How can mediators and courts give children a safe, useful and cost-efficient way to make their perspectives known when decisions about parenting plans are being made? Some research is available.
THE TIME IS NOW: Frequently Asked Questions and Observations about Credentialing Mediators
By Steve Erickson | We need a way to assess skills and provide credentials for family mediators who are client-centered, non-coercive, and respectful of self-determination. Other approaches masquerading as mediation are confusing the public.
Mediation and Our Spiritual Journeys in a Material World
By Larry Gaughan | Even during divorce, perhaps the best way to describe our paths through life is that we are each on a spiritual journey. Mediators can help people refocus on their new spiritual journeys through the material world of present family finances and future security.
Do Retired Judges Really Mediate?
By Larry Gaughan | Many retired judges call the process they use mediation, but a good look at what they do shows that it has almost all of the characteristics of the adversarial litigation system. One basic principle of every set of mediator ethics is that mediation not be coercive. When there are very long meetings (sometimes past midnight), often with a trial date close at hand,
Choosing How to Settle Your Divorce
By Virginia Colin | Many ways to divorce: kitchen table, mediation, neutral case evaluation, counseling, collaborative law, attorney negotiations, going to trial — Choose wisely.
Why Divorce Does Not Belong in the Court System
By Steve Erickson | Mediators, frustrated judges, attorneys, therapists, clergy and the husbands and wives who use the inherently adversarial court system for divorce must band together to create change.
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: LEGAL UPDATE
By Marta J. Papa | Now married same-sex couples have the same legal benefits and responsibilities as married heterosexual couples. They also face the same challenges if they decide to divorce. Details…
Should Mediators Write Divorce Agreements?
By Bill Eddy | Which is more likely to cause harm to individuals or families: letting them choose a mediator who is not an attorney to write their parenting plans and divorce agreements, or insisting that divorce agreements must be written by lawyers whose job is to act as zealous advocates for their clients?
The First Standard of Practice: The Genius of Self-Determination, Or, It’s a Fine Line
By Steve Erickson | The answers and the solutions to the conflict are found, not by the mediator, but by the parties themselves who hire the mediator.
Family Mediation: Its History and Future
In this radio interview, famous family mediator Forrest “Woody” Mosten discusses why family mediation peace-making services are so important, why court is much too often a health hazard for families…