Mediation Fees

This is a common Mediation scenario that requires additional hours of mediation time but still includes preparation of all Court Forms. The Parties work together using Virtual Mediation and while they butt heads frequently they usually resolve things and neither party is in the grip of any significant mental or emotional force. Parties work directly with the Mediator and do not have outside legal representation. Financial situation is average with a marital home, some retirement, some credit card debt, etc.

^{*Court Filing Fees, Parenting Class and other third party costs not included.}

The Parties are dealing with more intense than normal emotional or psychological challenges that add challenges to a negotiation. This is a more challenging Mediation that adds significantly more mediation time but still includes preparation of all Court Forms. Even though it adds significant time and cost it is immeasurably cheaper than throwing the matter to lawyers to fight it out. The Parties can’t work together effectively using Virtual Mediation and require the Mediator to utilize Shuttle Mediation. Parties work directly with the Mediator and do not have outside legal representation. Financial situation is average with a marital home, some retirement, some credit card debt, etc.

^{*Court Filing Fees, Parenting Class and other third party costs not included.}

This is a typical Mediation without minor children that includes 3 hours of mediation time and preparation of all Court Forms. The Parties work together using Virtual Mediation and generally get along on almost all matters and neither party is in the grip of any significant mental or emotional force. Parties work directly with the Mediator and do not have outside legal representation. Financial situation is average with a marital home, some retirement, some credit card debt, etc.

^{*Court Filing Fees, Parenting Class and other third party costs not included.}

This is a fairly common Mediation scenario that requires additional hours of mediation time but still includes preparation of all Court Forms. The Parties work together using Virtual Mediation and while they butt heads frequently they usually resolve things and neither party is in the grip of any significant mental or emotional force. Parties work directly with the Mediator and do not have outside legal representation. Financial situation is average with a marital home, some retirement, some credit card debt, etc.

^{*Court Filing Fees, Parenting Class and other third party costs not included.}

The Parties are dealing with more intense than normal emotional or psychological challenges that add challenges to a negotiation. This is a more challenging Mediation that adds significantly more mediation time but still includes preparation of all Court Forms. Even though it adds significant time and cost it is immeasurably cheaper than throwing the matter to lawyers to fight it out. The Parties can’t work together effectively using Virtual Mediation and require the Mediator to utilize Shuttle Mediation. Parties work directly with the Mediator and do not have outside legal representation. Financial situation is average with a marital home, some retirement, some credit card debt, etc.

^{*Court Filing Fees, Parenting Class and other third party costs not included.}

As Complexity and Complicating Factors begin to Layer on a case the costs can shoot out of a reasonable realm. When you add high net worth and high income dynamics, large disparities in income/earning ability all the forces feed off of each other and exponentially drive up costs. Typically the limit is contained by the Parties ability to pay for legal services, but unfortunately many couples transition from marriage in severe debt due to their legal fees. 

When high income and high net worth is combined with other intense factors cost determination stops being measured in hours and starts being evaluated in percentage of net worth. In other words, how much legal service can you afford. If you are worth $500MM for example and legally defending a spouse who is vengefully plundering the marital property, one could imagine spending millions ( and they do!) in order to protect something that is worth far more than the cost of the legal fees.

For most Fees compound when these multiple factors are not properly managed by the parties and their lawyers and mediators. Anger combined with access to large sums of money is a dangerous combination. Then when you process that combination through an already expensive process like lawyer led dispute resolution, you get the perfect storm for you emerging from the divorce process having successfully transferred significant amounts of your wealth to your legal practitioners. Sadly, after it all it doesn’t fix the internal issues and in fact can make them worse when you realize you are poorer and the money spent didn’t make you fell that much better.

If you have a case like this, it is important to alert the Mediator up front and before any negotiating takes place make sure the negotiation is properly safeguarded. This means first negotiating on how the negotiations will proceed. For example, both Parties can agree to cease their litigation efforts while they negotiate. They can agree to segregate mediation topics based on sensitivity (such as claims of mental instability, etc). They can agree that any mediation terms that cannot be resolved after a reasonable effort in mediation, shall be referred to a Special Master or Arbitrator, or to refer the remaining issue to the Court. This is sometimes called Bifurcating the Agreement so you capture the value of agreements that can be made in mediation and only having the Arbitrator or the Court focused on the remaining issues. This can save tremendous amounts of money and make the most of a difficult situation.

In general the fastest way to drive up the costs as much as possible is to simultaneously be in the grip of intense emotions AND delegate the whole matter to your lawyer. More than anything else these two forces are responsible for crippling legal fees. If this is just where you happen to be at the moment, perhaps the Mediator can work with the Parties with a Marital Agreement until some improvement is achieved on the emotional side. This agreement is a negotiated outcome that can serve to protect the marital property from either party while someone goes to treatment for their emotional challenges, substance abuse, or other issues that might negatively affect them in a negotiation. Then once the situation has stabilized, a reasonable negotiation could take place and the Parties can retain more of their hard earned wealth and sustain more of their self respect too,