Ending an intimate relationship is an overwhelming experience. It is complicated—emotionally, financially, legally and procedurally. Many people do not know where to begin. Few want to hire lawyers for a battle, but no one wants to feel vulnerable and taken advantage of. Most people just want a fair settlement that gets them and their children what they need.

Today’s separating spouses have many options, including mediation, litigation, collaborative practice, arbitration, negotiating with legal professionals, or doing it themselves. It is important to have an individual meeting with a mediator, before you choose mediation, to decide whether the process is the right one for you. Some people will retain a lawyer to help them in the mediation while others feel comfortable mediating on their own.

Whichever way it is done, mediation should be a fair, safe, balanced, informed and affordable way to resolve difficult problems. Our team of lawyer and social worker mediators are ready to help lawyers and their clients settle the toughest cases in the best possible way.

Mediation empowers the parties to resolve all aspects of their dispute in a way that is best for them. Mediation respects the needs of each person involved including extended family members. Family mediation allows parents to stay focused on the needs of their children. Mediation is less adversarial, less stressful and less expensive than going to court. Research shows that people who use mediation are usually more satisfied with both the process and the outcome than people who use the courts to resolve their disputes.

Please complete a Confidential Intake Form and have your partner do the same. This will help us prepare for your individual, confidential individual meeting, which you will schedule with our staff. At this meeting we will ask you questions and you can ask us questions to help us decide whether mediation is the right process choice for your family. Mediation is not always the best process for everyone. We will want to know if you are both ready to mediate, if you have the information you need, if the process will be legally, emotionally and physically safe, and if there are any steps that need to be taken before you can start.

You will both need to sign our Family Agreement to Mediate. Please review it carefully before you come in for your individual meeting in case you have questions. We will usually have an intern present as ours is a teaching practice. We will then conduct one or more sessions with you, either together or in separate rooms, to help you negotiate a settlement of the issues that are important to both of you and your children.

A mediator is a referee, a knowledgeable guide, a source of legal information ( but not legal advice), an impartial and realistic “sounding board”, and an expert in helping people in distress communicate better.

A mediator provides a fair and safe process for people to assess their needs, stay focused, communicate effectively, and find a satisfactory outcome. Mediators are neutral towards all parties but directive when it comes to providing a fair and balanced process.

A mediator will help parties work through proposed solutions to ensure they are realistic and workable. Although a mediator will provide legal information, they cannot give legal advice.

If there are any financial issues, we will ask both of you to complete and swear a Form 13.1 Financial Statement. You should bring any other documents that you or the other person will need in order to have an informed negotiation.

We have articles in our Resources section to help you prepare for your mediation. Mediation is a negotiation; you should come ready to negotiate. This means spending the time you need before the mediation to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your legal arguments; the practicality of any proposed solutions you have; and the range of settlement options you could accept. We always recommend that you consult with a family lawyer and any other professionals whose advice you need. In complex cases we may recommend that these professionals attend the mediation for multi- disciplinary support and advice.

It depends on the complexity of the case and the personalities of the people in the room. How well prepared each of you is, and how ready you are to settle the case, will impact the process. We find that most mediations are completed in under 12 hours of meeting time.

Our mediators will draft agreements and parenting plans for you, provided that you will be taking them to a lawyer for legal advice. Otherwise, we will provide you with a Memorandum of Understanding of the issues that were resolved.

The mediators who work with Riverdale charge a range of hourly rates, which is usually shared by the parties as they may agree. We DO NOT REQUIRE RETAINERS, but rather ask that you pay what is owing at the end of each session.

We recommend that everyone in mediation has access to good legal and other professional advice. You will need to decide what advice you need; we can help you make that assessment but cannot provide advice ourselves.