Our Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediators at Mediation of Coral Springs, Inc. hear parties at mediation state a lot of different things that they have head from their friend and family, some of which is true and other that is false.

One of the more common misconceptions is that the mediator is on the party’s side because his or her attorney chose the mediator.  In reality, a mediator is a neutral third party who is there to help two parties who have filed a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage attempt to resolve their issues in a private setting that is confidential and not open to members of the public.  A Florida Family Law courtroom is open to the public and so are the documents contained in the court file.  By attending mediation instead of going to court, the parties can control the documents which become public records.  For example, a Mediated Settlement Agreement can reference an unfiled document in order to maintain privacy.

In addition, our Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediators at Mediation of Coral Springs, Inc. cannot and will not force parties to settle anything.  After taking into consideration the parties’ issues, our mediators are able to make suggestions that could lead to settlement; but both parties have to come to an agreement on the issues. Even if the parties appear to be very close on the issues, our Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediators cannot break the tie – so to speak.

In Florida,mediation is required for couples to attend in Family Law cases, but there is no requirement that the parties have to mediate in good faith. If a party believe that a mediation is being held in an unfair or improper manner, he or she can put an end to the mediation.  A Florida Family Law Judge will not know what happened because the mediator merely files a report that states the parties appeared at mediation but were unable to reach an agreement.

One major reason that mediation is mandatory to attend is that it takes a lot of pressure off a Florida Family Law Judge’s courtroom docket. In some circuits, it can take nine months or longer to obtain hearing time for a trial. Another reason is that our courts recognize that trying a divorce case before a Florida Family Law Judge is very expensive and that most parties shouldn’t be required to liquidate a large percentage of marital assets in order to obtain a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage.

As you can see there are a number of fictions about mediation, but these fictions have to merit. Our Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediators at Mediation of Coral Springs, Inc. have found that mediation does not prolong the divorce process.  In fact, in most cases, it takes less time to mediate a Florida Family Law case than it takes to try the case.

If you have any questions about mediation, please review the blogs that are on Mediation of Coral Springs, Inc.