Getting divorced and resolving family law issues involves transitions that are not easy. I am an experienced Massachusetts divorce mediator (over 1800 cases mediated) and divorce mediation lawyer, and I will guide you through these transitions with compassion. I will treat you and your concerns with respect. We will work together, one issue at a time, to create solutions that work for you and your family and ensure that the focus stays on the healthiest process and outcome for you and your children.
My business is dedicated 100% to divorce mediation in Massachusetts. I mediate divorces remotely via live video conference for ALL Massachusetts cities, towns, and courts. You and your spouse do not need to come to my office for divorce mediation. If you have a computer or smartphone, I will mediate your divorce online via Zoom. Regardless of whether you need a Middlesex County divorce mediator; a Worcester divorce mediator; a Cambridge divorce mediator; or divorce mediation in Boston, I am as close to you as your computer or smartphone.
After you call me and we speak on the telephone, you will have access to my calendar to schedule a 2.5 hour Zoom meeting to begin mediation, or a free 20-minute consult on Zoom with your spouse. This live video conferencing platform allows us to see each other and exchange documents in real time. I email you drafts of all court documents within 1-2 days of this first Zoom mediation meeting.
When you are ready, after a second meeting, I generate final versions of all court documents and the divorce agreement and postal mail them to you for signatures. You then file them with the court by mail. Your 15-minute court divorce hearing can be in person or on Zoom.
As a divorce mediation lawyer, I treat all parties in negotiations with respect. My goal is not to create winners and losers but to use my creativity, my empathy, and my knowledge of the law to create win-win solutions to the practical problems posed by divorce in a cost-effective way. This approach to reaching divorce agreements avoids the high costs, delays, and interpersonal conflict and stress that are inevitable in litigation through family law courts.
As a Boston divorce attorney mediator, I prepare the legal papers and Massachusetts divorce forms reflecting your decisions so that a judge can approve the separation agreement and issue the divorce decree.
If you have been served with divorce papers, but you think you and your spouse can work together outside of court, I can convert your case into an uncontested case and serve as your MA divorce mediation attorney.
Call to learn more about divorce mediation service and uncontested divorce.
CALL JULIA 413-253-7484
What is divorce mediation?
Divorce mediation is when a couple hire a neutral third party to help them come to an agreement on the issues that must be addressed in divorce: parenting plan, division of property, and child support/alimony. Typically, the mediator then prepares all court paperwork based on these agreements and guides the couple through the filing process.
What are the advantages of divorce mediation?
Divorce mediation is faster, less expensive, and less stressful than fighting in court. In mediation, you are in control of the process and can discuss the issues that are most important to you and come up with creative solutions. In a litigated, contested case, the process is controlled by lawyers, judges, and court rules, and you will mostly be a spectator. See pros and cons of divorce mediation for further discussion.
If I mediate my divorce, do I still have to appear in court?
Yes (although not necessarily in person). For uncontested divorce in Massachusetts, there is a 15-minute hearing with a judge where the judge asks you if you have read and understood the agreement and if you agree to it. During COVID these hearings were done by Zoom. Even without COVID it is possible to request to appear over Zoom.
How much does divorce mediation cost in Massachusetts?
A survey of MA attorney mediator websites suggests a range from $3000 to $5000+. Typical hourly rates range from $250 to $500. Many people tell me that they appreciate the fact that I offer 100% transparent flat fee pricing on this website and that they find me to be an affordable divorce mediator.
Is divorce mediation legally binding?
Nothing we do in mediation is legally binding until a judge signs the divorce agreement making it a court order. This frees you to talk openly and try out ideas in mediation. You are not obligated until the judge signs the agreement. In practice, most couples are relieved to get a draft of their separation agreement from the mediator and begin following it immediately, even before they file the court documents. This gives them a path forward that allows them to focus on the future, not the past.
What if my spouse refuses to mediate?
You cannot mediate unless both spouses agree to try it. You do not have to be in agreement on issues in order to try mediation—the mediator will help you come to a fair agreement.
Do I need a “divorce mediator near me”?
While people have traditionally met with divorce mediators face-to-face, we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic that divorce mediation works very well through Zoom. Because divorces are governed by state law, not any town or county law, all courts in Massachusetts follow the same divorce laws and use the same family law forms. This means that you do not need to Google “best divorce mediator near me” or “divorce mediation near me” or “divorce mediator in my area”; you can simply find the best divorce mediation attorney, state-wide, who is an expert in Massachusetts family law. Family law mediators in Western Massachusetts tend to be less expensive than Boston-area mediators.
For answers to 35+ more questions about divorce mediation in Massachusetts, see our complete divorce mediation FAQ.
Divorce mediation is the process where a neutral third party helps a divorcing couple to have conversations and reach agreement on all issues that must be addressed in divorce. The couple themselves make the decisions, e.g., when each parent takes care of a child or which spouse might keep a marital home.
The fact that spouses themselves—rather than lawyers or judges—play the central role in creating the agreement is the distinguishing characteristic of mediation. No terms of the agreement are imposed on either party—both parties agree to all terms.
This results in divorce agreements that both parties are more likely to uphold after divorce, since they have created the terms themselves. It is enormously beneficial for families with children, as the process models and practices the communication and cooperation that ex-spouses will need to co-parent after divorce.
The divorce mediator guides discussion of the “big three” issues:
1) Parenting plan (for couples with children under 18)—Which of us takes care of the kids when? What is our parenting schedule? How will we do holidays?
2) Division of property—In general, assets that are acquired during marriage and debts that are incurred during marriage belong to both spouses. When you divorce, you disentangle from each other financially. Each asset or debt is assigned to one or the other of the parties, or divided. In Massachusetts, the law says that this division of marital assets must be “fair and equitable”.
3) Support. Support, which comes in two forms–Child Support and Alimony–are payments made from one ex-spouse to another for a certain period of time after marriage.
In addition to these big three, you may discuss and come to agreement on issues related to health care coverage, life insurance, taxes, pets, and the timing of events such as moving out or putting a house up for sale.
These discussions are guided by the divorce mediation attorney, who has expertise in family law and can articulate and educate the couple about the issues that need to be discussed and agreed upon. The family law mediator makes time for each spouse to be heard and empathizes with the emotions of each spouse but also gently guides the discussion to resolving the many practical decisions that have to be made . The divorce separation mediator remains neutral, not favoring one spouse over the other.
The divorce attorney mediator then takes the couple’s decisions and puts them into the legal document formats required by family law courts. The only court hearing is a brief one in which a judge reviews the documents and confirms that the couple understand and agree to the decisions they have made. The judge does not change the terms of the agreement or impose any terms. When the judge signs the agreement, the terms of the agreement (which were created by the couple) become a court order with legal force.
In simplest terms, a divorce mediator facilitates conversations between divorcing spouses so that they can come to agreement on all issues that have to be addressed in divorce. Attorney mediators then draft the legal documents, incorporating all your decisions, so that a family court judge can approve the agreement and issue a divorce decree. This simple description, however, veils the complexity of what top divorce mediation lawyers do in their mediation sessions. Successful divorce mediators must simultaneously do three things:
1) They must recognize and validate the emotions of people who are experiencing conflict with each other at the same time that they facilitate practical decision making by the couple.
A divorce mediation session cannot consist of just managing conflict and emotion—that would be for a marriage therapist. At the same time, a divorce mediator cannot just mechanically bring up practicalities such as whether a spouse will stay on the other’s health insurance after the divorce.
The best divorce mediators recognize the humanity of each person and show empathy for each party’s experience while picking the right moments to reach decisions on practical matters that will be recorded in the separation agreement. And no matter the level of empathy for each client, the mediator must remain strictly neutral about the outcomes that clients agree on, not advocating for one or the other.
2) The best divorce mediators know MA divorce and family law and can explain it to clients in everyday language, rather than legal terms. It is only through knowing the types and scope of decisions that need to be made—whether financial or regarding children—that couples can make the informed decisions that will be the basis of their separation agreement.
An attorney mediator who can explain the laws and common parameters for legally enforceable separation agreements creates conditions for a more level playing field in mediation. Because the mediator cannot advocate for one person’s position or the other’s, a power imbalance between spouses can lead to an agreement that favors the more powerful spouse.
If MA family laws and common legal practices are made clear to the couple–e.g., that property division must be fair and equitable–it can empower the less powerful spouse by giving them clear grounds to speak up for themeselves.
3) Top Massachusetts divorce mediation lawyers explain financial concepts and financial numbers in ways that that clients can understand. Spouses often have different levels of understanding of their finances and of basic financial concepts. The financial mediator must educate clients on the concepts that are central to their case. If the divorce mediation lawyer does not do that, then a more financially sophisticated partner in the couple can take advantage of the less knowledgeable spouse.
The flowchart below gives an overview of different processes for completing a divorce in Massachusetts and the role of mediation in these processes.
The two basic types of divorce in Massachusetts are “contested divorce” (also known as a “1B divorce”) and “uncontested divorce” (also known as a “1A divorce”). (There is also a very rare kind of divorce—“fault divorce”—which is a relic from pre-1976 divorce processes.)
In a contested, or 1B divorce, a couple cannot agree on the terms of their divorce, and they are asking a judge to decide and order the terms. This kind of divorce involves complicated court procedures and multiple court hearings. It usually requires that each spouse hire an attorney to negotiate these procedures. The overall process is long, often a couple of years or more until divorce. It is also expensive, costing $5000-$10,000 each for relatively simple and non-adversarial cases and $10,000 or more for more complicated or adversarial ones.
In an uncontested, or 1A divorce, the couple come to agreement on all terms of the divorce, before submitting documents to the court. This is what is done in divorce mediation. These agreements are written into the separation agreement (the divorce agreement).
There is a single hearing, often about 10-15 minutes, in which a family court judge asks the spouses if they understand and agree to the terms of the divorce in the separation agreement. The judge then signs the separation agreement and it becomes a court order. By their nature, uncontested divorces are faster, less expensive, and less adversarial than contested divorces.
In the divorce decision tree flow chart below, red blocks indicates processes that are the slowest, most expensive, and most adversarial. Green blocks indicate faster, less expensive, and less adversarial processes. Divorce mediation is an ideal way to do an uncontested divorce in Massachusetts because of its speed, affordability, efficiency, and success rate.
You can learn more about collaborative law divorce, and details of fault, no-fault, contested, and uncontested divorce on other pages of this website.
Where do I file for divorce in Massachusetts?