Joseph M. Flanders councils divorce clients to participate in uncontested divorces, collaborative divorces, mediation, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in all cases.
It’s very rare that he will counsel clients to attend court or to ask the judge for relief. This is because the court system tends to be cumbersome, slow, unresponsive, and unable to handle the nuance of conflict in many divorces.
Mediation and ADR
Mediation is commonly defined as a process whereby the parties will meet with a qualified professional who will discuss the law, the parties situation, and how to reach resolution to their problems.
This mediator will often have a license in the state of Minnesota to handle dispute resolution and he or she will also have taken ample training on the subject of ADR.
In mediation, the parties may or may not be represented by an attorney; however, it is advised that both parties are represented by counsel. The mediator is not an advocate will not be arguing for asserting anyone’s position at mediation. An attorney will. If people have questions on why this is helpful, they should speak with someone who’s gone through a particularly difficult divorce without attorneys. Furthermore, the advocacy process cannot be understated. It is very difficult to reach a fair resolution to conflict without advocacy in many instances. The mediator will likely tell you this as well.
Other forms of alternative dispute resolution include binding arbitration and non-binding arbitration. These are more less common than mediation but these forms of ADR can be advisable in some instances. Binding arbitration is very similar to mediation only that the party sign a contract which is enforceable in a court of law – stating that the arbitration results will be binding on the parties. Obviously, this is a very big deal and people should no what they are getting into before they agree to binding arbitration.
Unbinding arbitration is very similar mediation – only, with unbinding arbitration, that the style of the person handling the arbitration is somewhat different than a typical “mediation” process.
Minnesota mediation attorneys and lawyers
For further questions about mediation, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), binding and non-binding arbitration, contact us from an attorney at Flanders Law Firm LLC, a Dakota County Minnesota divorce attorney, at 612-424-0398
