One thing about living and working in South Florida is that there is really no shortage of famous couples and celebrities who reside here on either a full or part time basis. When those types of couples decide to break up and file for divorce, it is not uncommon to see their pictures on the tabloids as you wait in the grocery store checkout line. It is clear that the tabloid media wants to exploit every little fact about a famous couples’ relationship that they can find.
Our Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediators at Mediation of Coral Springs, Inc. have found that many famous couples decide to mediate their issues in order to avoid their divorce being tried in the media. This choice is not due to mediation being much less expensive than proceeding in a courtroom setting because the cost of a divorce typically is not much of a concern for highly paid couples. These types of couples prefer to mediate their issues mainly due to the fact that mediation is confidential and private; and this type of setting protects themselves and their families from public scrutiny.
Member of the public are not allowed to be at mediation and there are no court reporters who present to record the proceeding. In fact, the parties to a private mediation are not required to file a notice of a mediation conference in a court file. Further, mediation can take place in any setting that the parties agree, and this includes extremely private settings such as yachts and private islands.
At Mediation of Coral Springs, Inc., we have noted that more often than not famous couples have their publicists release a very innocuous statement that the couple is in the process of separating and plan on handling their break-up in a positive way in order to protect the privacy of all involved.
They do this in order that neither party leaks out very private information in order to publicly embarrass their spouse(s) which allows each of them to settle their issues expediently without having to spend tons of money on attorney fees over several years.
It is more than apparent that the tabloids thrive on negative news, drama and scandalous materials in order to sell their papers or magazines. Unfortunately, when this happens a famous person’s image can take a beating which results in a loss of popularity – and income opportunities.
When a couple decides to mediate their case to the point where they reach a Mediated Settlement Agreement, the parties involved can be permanently sworn to secrecy about what took place during mediation.
Our Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediators at Mediation of Coral Springs, Inc. believe that all Florida couples who plan on getting divorced can learn valuable lessons from famous couples and see the advantages of mediation over litigation. It is not so much about saving money by mediating, it is more about saving your dignity by not airing your dirty laundry in a public setting.