MEDIATION BENEFITS

Mediation has at least five very important benefits:

• Affordable. Mediation is usually tens of thousands of dollars less expensive than the customary, attorney led adversarial divorce proceeding. Whereas cost of litigated divorce cost averages $30,000-$45,000, mediation can cost as low as $2,500.
• Maintain Control. Mediation allows the parties to dictate the outcome of their divorce as opposed to the outcome being dictated to the parties by a judge. The parties are also able to tackle specific issue(s) of divorce. The four issues are asset/debt division, spousal support, child support and child custody.
• Flexible. The parties create their own solution on the four primary issues of divorce: asset division, spousal support, child support and child custody.
• Sense of Relief. The parties are generally more satisfied with the process as it leaves a better sense of emotional well-being of the parties.
• Efficient. The process is significantly shorter than the traditional adversarial court proceedings.

Having a CPA guide you through the divorce process is beneficial since three out of four issues of divorce involve financial decisions. Families with businesses, retirement or other economic issues can complicate the divorce process and cause unforeseen tax liabilities down the road.