Family Law Mediation Services in Washington

Resolving Family Disputes With Effective Mediation

Mediation is a powerful tool that allows you to maintain control over the process and the outcome of your divorce or other family law dispute. McKinley Irvin offers flexible mediation scheduling to accommodate parties with urgent needs.

McKinley Irvin family law mediators have a holistic knowledge of family conflicts and a deep understanding of divorce's legal, financial, and emotional elements. Their extensive experience allows them to mediate cases that involve complex legal and financial issues.

Our mediators enjoy helping people assess their needs, priorities, and motivations while sharing their experience as practicing family lawyers and mediators. They are dedicated to facilitating people's progress toward an equitable, practical, and stable agreement that ultimately brings closure to litigation.

Comprehensive Mediation Services for Family Law Disputes

Our mediators can guide you in resolving most family law disputes, including those about:

• Divorce and legal separation
• Temporary orders
• Child custody and child support
• Property division and allocation of assets and debts
• Spousal maintenance payments and duration
• Temporary and Final parenting plans
• Disputes regarding parental decision-making
• Relocation and parenting plan modifications
• Post-dissolution disputes, including final orders, modifications, and support
• Disputes involving cohabitating couples and unmarried parents

How Does Family Law Mediation Work?

Mediation enables parties to represent their interests while working toward a place of compromise. Mediation aims to reach a mutually beneficial settlement that is reduced to writing and may be presented to the court instead of trial.

Mediation can occur at any stage in the litigation process (or before the litigation process), and any number of disputed issues can be addressed and resolved. It is common for parties to address a significant issue, such as temporary orders or a final parenting plan, in a stand-alone session and return at a later date to address the remaining issues. The process is cooperative, and nothing is decided without consensus from both parties. Mediation is a safe and confidential atmosphere in which nothing discussed can be used in court.

There are different ways to approach mediation. In “shuttle mediation," each party occupies a private meeting space (or Zoom room, if mediation is virtual) with his or her attorney. Both parties benefit from confidential discussions with their lawyers and any other professionals they wish to have present or consult with. The mediator is a neutral mediator of negotiations who engages in “shuttle diplomacy” by moving between rooms to guide the parties toward a workable settlement using creative and sensible solutions.

In contrast, parties may choose to have a joint mediation session. In this environment, both parties, their attorneys (if the parties are represented), and the mediator occupy one room. The mediator then guides a collaborative and respectful discussion to help the parties reach an agreement. Joint sessions promote face-to-face cooperation and help parties learn effective communication tools they can utilize moving forward.

Some parties prefer a mix of the two styles. In mediation, sessions can be tailored to the parties' individual needs and preferences to find the best path towards resolution.

What are the Advantages of Mediation?

Compared to traditional litigation, settling a divorce or family law dispute through mediation is:

• Flexible – Mediation can address one or more issues in dispute before and after a petition is filed with the court.
• Private – Mediation is conducted outside of court and off the record.
• Non-Adversarial – Both sides work cooperatively to determine the best result for everyone.
• Self-Directed – You maintain control of the process (not the court) and create solutions.
• Neutral – Your mediator is an experienced, unbiased professional focused on facilitating a mutually agreeable resolution.
• Healthy - Mediation promotes better communication, stronger relationships, and improved parenting.
• Durable - Privately mediated agreements allow the parties to take ownership of the outcome, resulting in greater long-term satisfaction.
• Economical – Settling outside of court can lower legal costs.
• Mandatory – Upon filing a petition with the court, parties must attempt alternative dispute resolution to resolve their case. Mediation fulfills that requirement.

If you are seeking a resolution of the issues at stake, mediation provides an excellent and cost-effective environment to formulate a practical and lasting arrangement that works for you and your family. This approach provides privacy and flexibility that you cannot get in court. By turning over the power to resolve your case to the court, you give up the ability to reach an agreement that considers your unique needs, goals, and values.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is mediation for?

Mediation is not only for divorcing couples; it addresses and resolves any legal disputes between two parties. It is a particularly effective tool for high-conflict matters where parties cannot effectively communicate. This is because mediators are neutrals with no personal stake in the outcome. They do not give legal advice or advocate for either party. As a neutral, the mediator is typically a legal professional who understands the law in the area of the controversy. This allows the mediator to productively focus the conversations and negotiations on the issues that matter, ultimately bringing about a resolution. It allows the parties to set aside their relationship conflicts and focus on removing the barriers to settlement.

Do we need to be represented by attorneys?

Mediation does not require parties to be represented by attorneys, although we highly recommend it. The attorney represents the individual interests of his or her client, provides legal advice throughout the process, and reviews the final documents.

Is the agreement legally binding?

If the parties are able to reach an agreement that resolves one or more issues, the parties and their counsel can enter into a binding settlement agreement, which, with few exceptions, will be accepted and enforced by the court.

What if we can’t reach an agreement?

If the resolution is not reached, the parties have several options. They can agree to participate in another mediation or with a different mediator, submit their disputes to an arbitrator to decide, or proceed to court, where a commissioner or a judge will make the decisions.

What is the difference between mediation and arbitration?

Some parties will determine that, even if they want to, they cannot reach an agreement with their spouse. If the matter cannot be resolved with the assistance of a mediator, the parties can agree to submit their disputes to an arbitrator. Arbitration is another form of alternative dispute resolution in which the parties agree to appoint an arbitrator to render a final and binding decision. In an arbitration, the arbitrator is an attorney acting as a decision maker who hears the positions of each side and makes a decision about the dispute.

Some people will choose a mix of mediation and arbitration. This may be agreed upon before a mediation session but often occurs when the parties are in a mediation session, and they can see it will not result in a full settlement, but they don’t want to lose the work they have done thus far with the mediator. In this case, parties can ask their mediator, who’s already familiar with the case, to act as a private arbitrator on the issues remaining. An attorney can help their client determine the pros and cons of switching gears, converting the neutral mediator into a decision-maker, or appointing an arbitrator not associated with their mediation process.

What is the difference between mediation and collaborative law?

Divorce mediation is a cooperative process facilitated by a third-party mediator. Although it is usually recommended that parties be represented by attorneys, mediation can happen at any point in the divorce process for any number of disputed issues.

In family law, collaborative divorce refers to a process where both parties agree—in a contract—that they will not use litigation to resolve their family law matter. The collaborative process is a client-driven process where each party retains a collaboratively trained attorney, and the parties with their collaborative attorneys work together, sometimes with the aid of other collaboratively trained experts, to reach a mutually agreed and sustainable agreement. If agreement cannot be reached and litigation is the only means of resolving the remaining disputes, the collaboratively trained lawyers must withdraw, and parties must start the divorce process over from the beginning with new counsel.

What does mediation cost?

Parties typically share the cost of the mediator’s time equally, which includes a modest amount of prep time and the actual time spent working with the parties at the mediation. Mediators charge by the hour and expect payment in full at the end of the mediation session. Parties