Divorce Mediation

Couples use the June. 15, 2018, Mass Child Support Guidelines in determining support for their children. It is assumed that both parents will contribute their earnings and that the guidelines are “presumptive”. That is, they will pertain to your situation unless:

• you have children who have special needs or aptitudes
• you have unusually low or high housing costs
• the children live with each of you approximately equal time
• you have joint incomes in excess of the guidelines

Couples decide when they reevaluate the Child Support Guidelines, perhaps every year, if their incomes or medical/dental insurance has changed. If a parent is not working or working full-time, and the children are old enough, s(he) may decide to do so to increase the total family income. Parents frequently decide that it is better, especially for young children to be guided by their parents and not nannies or babysitters.

The Alimony Reform Act of 2012 has provided couples, mediators, lawyers and judges with much needed guidance in determining spousal support/alimony for a woman or man who has not worked during the marriage, or for couples whose joint income exceeds $250,000 and alimony needs to be applied in addition to child support.

The alimony guideline calculator lists duration of alimony for couples married up to five years as being 50% of the months married; those married over 5 years to 10 years as being 60% of the months married; between 10-15 years as 70% of the months married; between 15-20 years as 80%; over 20 years may last to full retirement age of 66 or 67 of the payor or, with written findings of the Judge, based on relevant factors to a longer period.

The calculation for the amount of alimony is the difference between the larger earner’s income and the lower earner’s income, multiplied by 30%, 32.5% or 35%, depending on the couples’ circumstances; often the middle percentage is taken. Alimony or spousal support is determined, when all is said and done, by the prospective payor’s ability to pay, and the prospective recipient’s need for support.

Marital Home

Couples may decide together to sell their home, one may decide to buy-out the other’s interest, or trade for some other asset, or they may decide to hold it together for a certain time to provide a continuous environment for their children. In this case they share the costs of structural repairs, they may share the costs of real estate taxes, mortgage interest and share those income tax deductions.

Retirement Funds, Pensions and Investments

Couples married over 15 years, considered a long marriage by the Commonwealth presumably share 50-50 retirement funds, pensions, investments accumulated during the marriage. Many other couples take 50-50 as a point of departure for discussions.

These assets can be traded against, but the rationale for division of all property must be clear to each party. A defined benefit pension plan or current 401(K) must be divided by using a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) or a DRO. Other defined contribution plans may be rolled over into a ex-spouse’s name and account. Marriage is considered a partnership in the Commonwealth. A spouse who has not worked would have shared the retirement funds had a divorce not occurred and is entitled to this right

Clients of The Negotiation Collaborative, through the Certified Divorce and Financial Analyst quickly learn what their net disposable income is after they’ve paid their expenses and taxes and also what their future incomes will be far into their retirement years. What a relief people experience when they find they can “make it financially” in two households.

During the mediation process, each member of the couple:

• Lists and testifies to ALL marital property and ALL income
• Makes full financial disclosure
• Estimates costs of living separately
• Receives help in deciding what he or she needs r.e. children and finances
• Negotiates to a solution satisfactory to both parties
• Leaves mediation with a “Mediated Separation Agreement”
• Has a collaborative or review attorney review agreement, file joint petition for divorce, and “the divorce pleadings”
• Submits the Separation Agreement for court approval as the final divorce agreement

Divorcing partners, together with the expert assistance of the experienced mediator, create alternatives, then decide upon:

• Living arrangements, talking with and assessing children’s needs
• How children and parents will prosper during and after the divorce
• Financial support of children through college
• Financial support of each other, when necessary
• Division/buy-out/sale of real estate and marital property
• Tax consequences of sale/transfer of property
• Medical/ dental insurance/life insurance
• How to cover children’s expenses in the event of death
• How to divide debts/liabilities

Divorce Mediation is a respectful, inexpensive, confidential and efficient process. The benefits of this process include:

• Cost, time and conflict savings
• Better post-divorce adjustment for all family members
• Full voluntary financial disclosure of all income and assets
• Expert help in talking with, assessing children’s needs and living arrangements
• Comprehensive collaboration with the best financial, legal, parenting experts
• Teaching Couples to Preserve Their Relationship for the Emotional Health of Children

The couple’s Mediated Agreements detailing the full range of their agreement on parenting, support, division of property and tax consequences are:

• Drafted by the mediator
• Reviewed separately by attorneys for each party, a checks and balances process
• Finalized into a joint “Separation Agreement”, and signed as a legal contract
• Taken into Probate Court for a judge’s approval, becoming an order of the court.

The final mediated agreement, when signed, is a legal contract. It must be filed with a probate court when the couple has a divorce hearing to become a court order. In an uncontested divorce action, the divorce will be final in 120 days.

Divorce mediation clients find mediation respectful, efficient and economical. They find mediation helps them to:

• Custom tailor an agreement to meet their own unique needs, not just legalistic formulas
• Minimize adversarial interaction through a mutual agreement process
• Protect their children from undue pain and confusion
• Take charge of their own lives
• Develop a joint commitment to the agreement that enhances the chance that both parties will live up to its’ provisions.
• Ensure a confidential and voluntary process (Mass State Law, Chapter 233, Section 23c)

As standard practice in the mediation field, all mediation clients have their advisory attorneys review their joint agreements in their individual best interest after mediation. Only a judge, not a lawyer, nor a mediator is empowered to approve a Separation Agreement. In many cases clients benefit during the mediation from consulting with:

• Advisory/Review Attorneys
• Appraisers of property, businesses, pensions
• Certified Divorce and Financial Analyst, tax advisors, and financial planners. The cost of allied professionals are not significant to get your financial lives in order, until the end of your lives.

Fees

To make divorce mediation accessible to most everyone, a sliding fee scale, unusual in the Boston area, is being provided. Fees start at $225/hour for meetings, electronic mediation, drafting of Agreement for couples making up to and including $100,000 in joint income. The fees increase by $25/hour for each $25,000 in joint income being made up to a cap of $400 hour for all services provided.

We make every attempt to complete the mediation as quickly as possible consistent with meeting the needs of both parties. Our sessions are two hours in length and may take from 2 sessions to approximately 5 sessions. The time spent to draft the agreement is billed. Fee’s slide down or up from a base of $225 per hour, dependent upon income, a standard suburban mediation fee.

A highly enlightening and engaging presentation for your organization, business, church group,
family and mediation professionals.

this presentation has been very popular for women’s and men’s chamber of commerce and business groups, rehabilitation centers, university and school organizations and for people training to be family and divorce mediators. it may be followed by interactive exercises which allow participants to role-play becoming mediators themselves.