Mediation

What is Mediation?

Mediation is a confidential process for resolving disputes by using an impartial third-party (the mediator) who meets with both parties to a case. The mediator has no decision-making authority, but rather tries to assist the parties to resolve their dispute.

Communications and exchange of information during mediation are usually confidential and all parties involved in mediation are normally prohibited from creating a public record of confidential mediation communications. Sometimes mediation is the best method to preserve confidentiality and avoid publicity.

Parties learn to work through their issues or conflicts, and draw a workable resolution together with the help of the mediator. To participate, parties need only be open to the possibility of resolution outside of a courthouse.

At times, parties may request a mediator to assist them by explaining the weaknesses and strengths of a legal dispute.

The mediator can bring parties together to resolve their dispute economically, expeditiously and amicably. Participation in the mediation process is normally voluntary, unless ordered by Court. 

Traditional Dispute Resolution such as the Court Ordered type of System is failing to meet today’s needs:

Courts are overcrowded and litigants’ costs are skyrocketing. Relationships are being destroyed and parties get injured as a result of court disputes and non-confidential papers that are filed in court.

To be more efficient, and to avoid the adversarial system in resolving disputes, mediation is one of the more successful methods used to resolve family matters. To meet today’s needs, dispute resolution professionals are rediscovering and developing skills that provide litigants with better ways to resolve their disputes.

What Could be a Result of Litigating Child Custody in Open Court?

Subjecting your young ones to our court system, which is unprepared to adequately address and assess their needs, will only bring heartache and resentments.

Our court system looks at statistics, and what has been done in the past. The judicial officer’s experiences, personal beliefs, and ideology/education will lead him or her to decide upon the right “way” or “method”.

Due to time constraints and heavy case loads, family court judges must resolve matters quickly, and once the judge rules on a matter, it is very difficult and expensive to change that ruling in the event that it does not serve your family’s needs.

With mediation, you can obtain a better, more favorable result than resorting to litigation, and trusting what a given judge decides.

Family Court files are public files. With mediation, you can avoid litigating child custody or another personal family matter in open court. Mediation can protect you, your family, and your children. Mediation can help to keep your family matters which need to be resolved private and confidential.

The Mediator’s Role: One Size Does Not Fit All

A trained mediator who is familiar with the legal issues, and each party’s rights and responsibilities, can intervene and use creative thinking to help resolve disputes between parties.

By mediating, you are more in control of your destiny and you can remove the uncertainties as you become a part of a process to mitigate painful disputes and propose solutions. Creative resolutions might be simply “what works best for your family”.

The mediator plays many roles, such as being mediator, master-of-ceremonies, evaluator, questioner, alter-ego, persuader, dealmaker and more. A good mediator can

• enable the parties to examine the dispute from a variety of viewpoints,
• help them define the basic issues and interests, and
• explore mutually satisfactory options.

To do this, the mediator serves several functions by

• assisting all parties involved,
• establishing ground rules, and
• establishing a level of formality based on each situation.

The mediator may need to balance the power between the parties, in a sense acting as a referee.

Nouri Law Can Help

I hope that you will trust me, Faith Nouri, to mediate your case. I can take the time to consider all the sides of the conflict, and thoroughly hear what each party’s needs and concerns are.

My job as a mediator is to think outside of the box. Many are unable to do so. Handling numerous cases has taught me that every case is unique and no family case is the same as the one before. We all live different lives and have unique personalities. Using creative resolution, I will meet your family members’ needs and will avoid conflict by anticipating potential pitfalls while drafting a road map for both parents in raising your children.

Be a part of shaping the resolution of your dispute. Otherwise, the court will dictate a resolution that you may not like, and the court mandated resolution could lead to an even bigger problem for you and your loved ones.

Once a mediation agreement is signed, we will assist you to make that agreement enforceable by inserting the proper language and following the correct procedure.

Confidentiality of mediation is very important, and parties can participate without any fear that their communication could be used against them in court. As such, mediation confidentiality is covered under Evidence Code Sections 1115-1128.