Effective Conflict Resolution

Family Mediation:

Family Mediation, also called Divorce Mediation, helps resolve child custody, child access, income determination, child support, spousal support, division of property, marriage contracts and other issues arising on cohabitation, marriage, separation or death.

Benefits of Family Mediation:

• Lets parties control their own separation process
• Is confidential, keeping the details of your separation out of a public court file
• Can be far less expensive than litigation or even lawyer-to-lawyer negotiation
• Allows parties to negotiate a separation agreement
• Can reduce conflict and stress for you, your ex and your children
• Can help promote a positive, long-term relationship between you and your ex. Research shows that children can suffer long-term harm, even as adults, as a result of separation-related conflict between their parents.

You do not need to have a lawyer to come to family mediation, but you do need to obtain legal advice before you can finalize an agreement.

Family Arbitration:

Family arbitration helps resolve child custody, child access, income determination, child support, spousal support, division of property, and other issues arising from your separation. Family arbitration is like selecting your own private judge who will make a final ruling on all outstanding issues between you and your ex spouse.

Benefits of Family arbitration:

• Can resolve all separation and divorce-related issues
• Lets you tell your story and make your arguments before a qualified private judge
• Results in a legally binding decision
• Lets you choose your own decision-maker and design your own process
• Can be faster and less expensive than going to court
• Is confidential
• When combined with family mediation, lets parties try to reach their own agreement before the family arbitrator makes the decision for them.

Parenting coordination:

• Helps parents resolve conflicts arising out of their separation agreement, arbitration decision or court order
• Promotes better communication and decision-making skills for parents
• Provides an effective process for resolving conflicts between parents
• Allows parents to choose their own qualified professional

Our founder, Hilary Linton, is a former family and civil litigator and an internationally recognized leader in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), including family and civil mediation. She specializes in helping families in conflict during separation and divorce work together, in a safe, practical and effective way, to resolve the most difficult disputes. She collaborates with Elizabeth Hyde (a lawyer, family mediator, family arbitrator and parenting coordinator ). Both are certified dispute resolution practitioners as well as highly regarded international mediation trainers and mediation instructors.

We focus on cases involving separation, children, family and estate disputes, partnership conflicts, and elder disputes.

When choosing the professionals to guide you through this critical time in your life, competence and experience count. Work with our team at Riverdale Mediation — seasoned alternate dispute resolution professionals with backgrounds in family law — for a process you can trust.