How Long Can a Mediation Take?

If you’re facing a family law case, such as divorce, it’s a challenging time that you likely want to put behind you sooner rather than later. If you’re considering mediation, you’ll be glad to know that not only can the process be less expensive, relative to resolving your case in court, but it can also save you time. Instead of the year or two that a litigated case may require, mediation often cuts the timeframe down to a matter of months. Our experienced Lebanon, PA, family law attorney at Feeman Law Offices is standing by to help.

The Mediation Process

Mediation involves you and your spouse coming together to resolve any divorce terms that you haven’t been able to reach an agreement on to date. These includes:

• The fair division of marital property
• Child custody arrangements
• Child support
• Alimony

Many family law cases can be addressed by mediation, including when these terms apply outside of divorce, such as term modifications and cases involving children born outside of marriage.

Protecting Your Rights

The bottom line is that your financial rights and your rights as a parent are too important to leave to chance. Having a skilled family law lawyer with extensive mediation experience backing you up from the start can make a big difference in terms of outcome.

The Basics

At mediation, you and your formidable family law attorney, along with your ex and their attorney, as applicable, will come together. The process is guided by a professional mediator who fills the role of a neutral third party. Their job is to facilitate meaningful negotiations between the two of you without offering advice, taking sides, or making decisions for you.

Mediation is a private process that helps preserve privacy in these deeply personal cases. The outcome of mediation is only legally binding when both parties sign off on the terms established. In other words, you can’t be forced to accept terms that do not work for you. 

How Mediation Can Save You Time

If your case goes to trial, it means that your timeline will be guided by the court’s very busy docket. For a challenging divorce case, this can add up to well over a year. Mediation, on the other hand, can speed things up considerably. In streamlined cases, this can translate to just 90 days, the amount of time required before a divorce can be finalized in Pennsylvania.

The more complicated your case is and the more terms that need to be addressed, the longer you can expect the mediation process to take. Some cases can be resolved in just one mediation session, while others require several more. Mediation is often viewed as a last stop before trial, and many participants find this very motivating.

Our Experienced Lebanon, PA, Family Law Lawyer Welcomes the Opportunity to Help You

Scot Feeman is our dedicated Lebanon family law attorney at Feeman Law Offices, and he’s committed to effectively guiding you through the mediation process with your rights intact. Learn more by contacting us online or giving our firm a call at 717-273-1763 today.