Regardless of how a Maryland couple’s marriage ends, if they have children, they will most likely need to find a way to relate to each other as parents post-divorce. Just because the marital relationship ended, it does not mean that the parental relationship does.
You and the other parent will need to find a way to work together for your children. If you find yourself in this situation, you may benefit from mediation as a way to resolve your child custody issues.
What can mediation do for you?
Making the decision to attend mediation in order to reach an agreement regarding your custody arrangements is the first step toward reaping the benefits of this process. Other advantages you could gain from mediating this issue include the following:
- You can avoid the adversarial process of a Maryland courtroom.
- The mediator does not take sides but instead remains neutral. For this reason, you will need your own attorney in order to protect your rights and interests, which is still a consideration regardless of the more relaxed nature of mediation.
- Instead of focusing on who is to blame for what, the mediation process looks to the future.
- You and the other parent get to decide how your post-divorce parenting journey looks instead of a judge. You can find solutions tailored to the needs of your family.
- The mediator will help keep you on track through the negotiations by helping you avoid any disagreements that could become full-blown conflicts.
- Mediation tends to reduce the stress you may feel as you move through the divorce and child custody process, which, in turn, could help reduce the anxiety and fear your children may be experiencing right now.
- This process could also help you establish a co-parenting foundation upon which you can build because the mediator will help you avoid conflict and encourage better communication skills and the ability to compromise.
As you can see, mediation could provide you with more amicable and advantageous way to resolve your child custody issues. As long as you keep your children’s best interests in mind and create an agreement that is workable for them and you, the court should approve it. Of course, you may not know what elements to include in order for that to happen, and the mediator is not responsible for giving you legal advice.
For this reason, you may want to work with an experienced family law attorney who can advise you through the mediation process to help ensure the protection of your rights and interests.
