Three Non-court Solutions to and Oregon Divorce: Part Three, Oregon Divorce Mediation
Most people who are going through a divorce have good intentions. They want to end their marriage with as little hassle as possible. Unfortunately, most people who are going through a divorce don’t exactly see eye to eye with their spouse. What usually happens is both people really want to end their marriage easily, but they just have a different opinion, sometimes a very strong one, about how that should happen.
When both spouses are motivated to end their case quickly and find a non-court solution to their divorce, Oregon divorce mediation can be a great option. Often, when both people want to make it easy, if there is a disagreement it usually is caused by someone not really understanding the law, or refusing to accept what the law says. You would hope that both parties to the case could each consult with their own lawyer and get clear guidance, and that would resolve the dispute. Unfortunately, because of the way our legal ethics system is set up, the lawyer’s job in those consultations is to advise you of what you can get from your case, which sometimes leads to a different expectation for both parties who hear different things from their lawyer.
The advantage of hiring a mediator is they are able to get both people in the same room, and tell them the same thing about what they think of the case. The mediators job is to help the parties reach an agreement, not to advise them of their absolutely best possible outcome. This allows them to be very motivated to quickly and easily help find middle ground, based on the law, that can resolve the dispute.
If possible, it is always best to both hire an attorney, and go to mediation. The reason for that is, if you don’t at least have an attorney who is giving you advice before starting mediation, you may get bullied into agreeing to something that you would never agree to if you had developed your own plan first. Always start by at least consulting with a lawyer to find out what your rights are, then if you and your spouse are motivated, try mediation. You can even go to mediation with your attorney so you are sure you are receiving the best possible advice to resolve your divorce or custody case. You may be thinking do I need a family law attorney to help me through my mediation? We recommend you read about the advantages to using a divorce attorney to help you with your Oregon divorce mediation to help you understand better why it can be an advantage.