South Florida Divorce Center

If you think that you and your soon-to-be ex can cooperate together with a trained mediator to work out issues such as distribution of finances and child custody arrangements, divorce mediation can work for you.

"A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year." -Paul Sweeney

Author and humorist Finley Peter Dunne husband of Margaret Ives Abbott, and famous for his Mr. Dooley articles, had this to say about men and marriage “The only good husbands stay bachelors; they’re too considerate to get married.”

A tip to remember when undergoing divorce mediation is to listen. So often, people just endure the other party's speaking so that they can have their turn; thus, they hear but do not listen. This is unhelpful and contradicts the entire process. Remember to listen, as this will better help you to understand all points of view.

Although some divorce lawyers are very good at what they do, letting lawyers fight with each other can make your divorce even more adversarial than it already is. When you want a simpler way to get through your divorce, mediation may be the right way to go.

Divorce mediation occurs in sessions which enable couples to address new or different problems as they arise. A particular problem or conflict that is especially difficult may be split up into two or more sessions to better get at the crux of that matter and make resolution more probable.

“Getting married is very much like going to a restaurant with friends. You order what you want, and then when you see what the other fellow has, you wish you had ordered that.” –Anonymous

Did you know that hiring a divorce mediator is much less expensive than filing a lawsuit against your partner? Commencing a lawsuit is costly and doesn't even attempt to resolve difficult issues; in short, it is a symbol of giving up. Hiring a divorce mediator means hiring one person who is there to help you find resolution.

If your family is currently facing a crisis or some type of difficulty, one of the best things you can do is to start family therapy. This will enable you to overcome challenges, heal emotional wounds, and restore a sense of harmony to your home.

Author P.J. O’Rourke had this to say about marriage and divorce “Staying married may have long-term benefits. You can elicit much more sympathy from friends over a bad marriage than you ever can from a good divorce.”

When you have an extremely open level of communication with your children, you may find it strange when they’re suddenly unwilling to discuss their feelings about the pending divorce. Rest assured that this is a natural way for children to process information, but you may still want to schedule a few family counseling sessions just to be cautious.

“That a marriage ends is less than ideal; but all things end under heaven, and if temporality is held to be invalidating, then nothing real succeeds.” –John Updike