One Mediation

Private Divorce Mediation is a way that separating spouses can customize the terms of their separation and
divorce, whether or not a petition for divorce is pending before a court or not. The other benefits include:

1. Mediation is private and confidential.

2. Mediation allows for scheduling considerations (can be held on Saturdays) and the pace you set.

3. Mediation still allows for the exchange of important information in order to make good decisions.

4. Mediation is a process where time is devoted to attacking the issues, rather than each other.

5. Mediation can forge partial or complete agreements, often faster than a court.

6. In mediation, families can address the legal and non-legal issues and logistics of transition.

7. A mediator's fees are cost effective, and a full-day of mediation- which can be sufficient time to resolve a
case, can run around $1,500.

In Georgia, only a judge may dissolve a marriage. How much time is spent at the courthouse, however, can be
controlled - often with the use of mediation.

Spouses, sometimes sooner rather than later, find out that court proceedings rarely move quickly or have any
consideration for their schedules. Stop by a court and you will hear cases that are over a year old and still have
not made it to a trial. Indeed, many times trials are rescheduled for a variety of reasons, including the court's
resources. And, only the criminal cases are entitled to "speedy trials," not civil matters such as divorce.

For parents who are separating or divorcing, their children's needs can't wait. Many parents will work out
many of the children's issues, in part because they do hold the best interests of their children and also
recognize that a judge is a stranger to their family and certainly does not love their children like they do.
Mediation can assist many parents with making good decisions about their children where they remain in
control of how their children will be raised.

Where parting spouses are able to work out their own agreement about their break-up, they set themselves up
for filing an uncontested divorce or to resolve a pending divorce petition. The filing procedures and other
aspects of the courthouse are complex. Many local courts have strong and free resources on divorce. Some of
those sites are listed below:

Fulton County
DeKalb County
Cobb County
Clayton County
Gwinnett County
Retirement and QDRO