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Inaugural Peaceful Separation And Divorce Newsletter

Friends, welcome to the first of what we hope are many monthly newsletters for Peaceful Separation and Divorce, or “Peaceful”. We created Peaceful as a separate entity from the Schwartz, Fox and Saltzman, LLC law firm (“SFS”). While SFS is a full-service family law firm, Peaceful is the home for non-litigation resolution of conflict between spouses, lovers, partners or those in loving relationships. There are several methods of resolving conflict that Peaceful offers.

1. Mediation: Mediation is a method of resolving dispute, when two parties do not wish to litigate in court. Mediators are non-biased, neutral problem solvers, who are specially trained
in mediation. The parties who wish to mediate are screened by the mediator to evaluate whether the parties truly are mediation candidates. To be such a candidate, a party must be seeking an agreement, whether it is child custody, support, divorce, division of property and the like, with an eye towards creating a document that is fair and works for both parties. A party who is hoping to take advantage of the other party or obtain as much property or money as they can, is generally not a proper candidate for mediation.

2. Collaborative Law: Collaborative Law (“Collaborative”) is a process similar to mediation in some ways, but also has unique aspects. In Collaborative, each party has their own lawyer, and the two lawyers and clients meet in a non-adversarial manner to resolve disputes. In mediation, which we discussed above, only the parties and the mediator are “in the room” during
the mediation. In Collaborative, the lawyers join the parties “in the room” and there is no mediator. Collaborative is a team approach many times, with a Divorce Coach or Therapist on
the team, as well as a Financial neutral. Parties sign a document agreeing not to go to Court nor threaten to go to court. As with mediation, it is by it’s nature a peaceful process. I look at it as
sort of a middle ground between mediation and litigation. In mediation, you are in the room alone; you have trust in your partner; you have some level of knowledge of your assets and
liabilities if it is a divorce action, and you are comfortable being in the room with your partner. If you feel you need more support, but want to avoid court, Collaborative is likely for you.

3. Arbitration: In arbitration, you do not go to court. However, your chosen arbitrator is a decision maker like a judge in court. The advantage of arbitration is that it is much quicker to
get to resolution than going to court, and, the arbitrator is much more responsive to the needs of the parties than a court can possibly be. While litigation in court can take a year or years to
resolve issues, arbitration is months rather than years. The decision of the arbitrator is binding in many instances. The process is also private. Financial, medical and other sensitive documents are kept private and not filed in a courthouse. Parties generally sign a confidentiality agreement to assure that sensitive disclosures remain private. The process is a private, streamlined process, and that makes arbitration very attractive to parties.

If what you have read here is appetizing, please take a moment and review our website at www.peacefulmediation.net. If you like what you see, call me, Lee Schwartz, at 267-365-7900, and we’ll chat. I’d love to hear from you.