divorce mediation services in woodbury, MN
At divorce financially, we believe that having sound financial guidance during your divorce is a wise investment. In our experience, over 70% of the decisions you make in your divorce are financial. Our unique advantage is combining our experience as financial professionals and mediators. If you would like a financially focused mediation, please call us at 952-428-7800 for a free consultation with one of our divorce financial mediators. Or fill out our contact form here.
What are the benefits of mediating your divorce?
Divorce mediation allow you to move at a faster pace and at lower costs than dealing with attorney’s and court costs. Here is our complete cost table. You can pretty much start your divorce process without having a court date on your calendar.
Fun Fact to Remember: over 90% of divorce cases in Minnesota are resolved before they even reach court. Mediation is such an effective process that the state of Minnesota requires you to make a good faith effort to settle your divorce through an Alternative Dispute Resolution, also known as an ADR before appearing in court.
Read more about the ADR requirements in the state of Minnesota.
preparing for a mediated divorce
Before going to court, the state of Minnesota requires all divorcing parties to participate in an alternative dispute resolution process, such as mediation, due to its effectiveness. At Divorce Financially, we believe many divorce situations can benefit from mediation as long as both clients agree to the divorce and are open to compromising with each other.
Mediation boasts high success rates with less emotional distress in comparison to a contested divorce. Through the divorce mediation process, we prioritize your families needs and interests to ensure financial success in the future.
A note on Complicated Cases
If you believe that your divorce is a complicated case and that mediation will not be enough for your situation, we suggest you first educate yourself before coming to any conclusions.
It’s important to identify if your case is complicated because of the financial issues or if it’s complicated because of interpersonal dynamics.
The foundation of a mediation process is the willingness for both spouses to work together and ultimately to come to agreements on their own.
At Divorce Financially, you are in control of the divorce process. Your mediation process can also include additional professional assistance such as therapists, child specialists, and attorneys, among other professionals.
What to expect in the divorce mediation process
At the beginning stages of a divorce, there are a lot of questions often starting with “how does the process work?” Here is our standard process (that can be modified) to provide some context:
- Organize and gather your documentation
- Generate options
- Evaluate options
- Negotiate & make decisions
- Draft up agreements
At Divorce Financially, we help you get to step 5 through the following process:
The first meeting
This is the financial review meeting. We request all of your financial documentation 5 business in advance of this meeting. We organize everything into our reports and our meeting time is spent reviewing to ensure we are all on the same page and we identify information that may still be needed. We also have many discussions around your goals and interests. This is a 1.5 – 2 hour meeting.
Learn more about our Financial Services.
the second meeting
The focus of this meeting is to project future budgets for you, your spouse and children (if applicable). Your homework is to provide six-twelve months of spending history to give some data to help us accurately and realistically project your expenses.
the third meeting
Our goal in this meeting is to generate or brainstorm different property division and cash flow options. Most folks don’t make any decisions in this meeting as the goal is to initially explore different scenarios and get a sense of how things work.
additional meetings
We can have as many additional meetings as we need until agreements are reached. In our experience we may need 1-3 additional meetings (after the third meeting) for most families to come to an agreement.
See if our mediation services are right for you
Our mediation services have helped many clients reach financial conclusions to their marriages. We’re always happy to answer questions about the mediation process.
As a safety precaution due to COVID-19, we also offer the option to hold sessions with clients remotely as a video conference rather than in-office. We will work with you via whatever contact method you prefer.
Divorce is a complex process that can leave anyone feeling frustrated or defeated, but you don’t have to go through a messy court battle or settle with unsatisfying litigation to solve your issues.
Instead, approach your issues respectfully and collaboratively through the mediation process with Divorce Financially. Our mediators are ready to help you ensure a smooth divorce settlement and set you on the path of new beginnings. Please call 952-428-7800 today for a free consultation.
