You walk away with a legally binding agreement that both of you helped create. Not something a judge decided after hearing your story for twenty minutes.
The average mediated divorce in Orange County costs $3,000 to $7,000 total. Litigation runs $15,000 to $30,000 per person. That’s not a small difference when you’re already splitting assets and figuring out two households.
You’ll finish in two to six months instead of twelve to eighteen. Your kids won’t spend a year watching you fight. You won’t spend a year paying attorneys to argue over things you could have discussed in a room together. Eighty-five percent of couples who mediate actually follow through on their agreements, compared to sixty-five percent of court-ordered settlements.
The process is completely confidential. Nothing you say can be used against you later. You schedule sessions when it works for both of you, not when the court has an opening. And if you have a family business or complex parenting needs, you’re building solutions that actually fit your situation instead of checking boxes on a standard form.
We work exclusively with families in Orange County who want to avoid litigation. We’re not a law firm that does mediation on the side. This is what we do.
Our mediators are trained in family law and understand how California courts handle custody, support, and asset division. That matters because your agreement needs to hold up legally, and you need someone who knows what judges will and won’t approve.
Marlboro families come to us when they want control over the outcome, when they’re worried about their kids, or when they’ve seen friends spend $40,000 fighting over things that didn’t need a courtroom. We use flat-fee pricing so you know what you’re spending upfront. No surprise bills. No hourly rate that punishes you for asking questions.
You’ll start with an initial consultation where we explain the process, answer your questions, and make sure mediation makes sense for your situation. If you’re dealing with abuse or serious power imbalances, we’ll tell you mediation isn’t the right fit.
Once you decide to move forward, we schedule your first session. Both of you attend. We go through the issues one at a time—parenting plans, property division, support, whatever needs to be resolved. You’re not negotiating alone. We’re there to facilitate, keep things productive, and make sure both sides are heard.
Most couples need three to six sessions. Each one is two to three hours. Between sessions, you might gather financial documents or think through proposals. We draft the agreement as you go, so by the last session, you’re reviewing a complete document that reflects what you both agreed to.
After that, the agreement goes to the court for approval. Once it’s signed by a judge, it’s legally binding. You’re done. No trial. No depositions. No waiting for a court date that gets pushed back three times because the docket is full.
Ready to get started?
We handle divorce mediation, child custody and parenting plans, child and spousal support, property and asset division, and post-judgment modifications. If your situation changed after your divorce and you need to adjust custody or support, we do that too.
Parenting plans are where most couples spend the most time. You’re deciding where your kids live, how holidays work, who makes medical and education decisions, and how you’ll communicate about parenting issues. California courts require mediation for custody disputes, so you’re going to do this either way. Doing it outside of court just means you have more flexibility and less pressure.
In Orange County, sixty to seventy percent of divorcing couples choose mediation. It’s not an alternative approach anymore. It’s mainstream. The courts are overwhelmed, and judges would rather approve an agreement you both worked out than make decisions for you.
If you run a family business together, mediation gives you space to create arrangements that protect the business while dividing assets fairly. Litigation tends to force binary outcomes—someone wins, someone loses. Mediation lets you get creative. You can structure buyouts, delayed payments, or continued co-ownership if that’s what works.
Communication coaching is part of the process. We’re not therapists, but we do help you have productive conversations, especially when emotions are high. If you’re going to co-parent for the next ten years, learning how to talk to each other without everything turning into a fight is worth the effort.
Mediation costs between $3,000 and $7,000 total for both people. That’s the full process—initial consultation, all sessions, and drafting your agreement. Compare that to litigation, which runs $15,000 to $30,000 per person, and you’re saving $25,000 to $50,000 as a couple.
We use flat-fee pricing, so you know what you’re paying upfront. No hourly billing. No surprise invoices because a session ran long or we had to make a phone call. Some mediators charge by the hour, which can range from $200 to $1,000 depending on their background and experience. We don’t do that because it creates the wrong incentive—why would you trust someone who makes more money the longer your dispute drags on?
If your case is unusually complex—maybe you own multiple properties, have a business, or need a forensic accountant to value assets—you might pay more. But for most divorces, even ones that feel complicated when you’re in the middle of them, the flat fee covers everything.
Mediation takes two to six months from start to finish. Litigation takes twelve to eighteen months, sometimes longer if the case is contested. That’s a year of your life you’re not spending in legal limbo.
The timeline depends on how quickly you can gather documents, how many issues you need to resolve, and how often you’re able to meet. Most couples do three to six sessions, scheduled a few weeks apart. If you’re motivated to finish and both showing up prepared, you can be done in two months.
Court timelines are out of your control. You file, you wait for a hearing date, the date gets continued, you wait again. Judges in Orange County are handling hundreds of cases. Yours is not special to them. In mediation, you’re scheduling sessions at times that work for both of you. You’re not waiting for the court’s availability. That alone saves months.
You don’t need to agree on everything to start mediation. You just need to be willing to have a conversation. If you already agreed on everything, you wouldn’t need a mediator—you’d just file the paperwork.
Mediation works for couples who disagree, sometimes strongly, but are open to finding middle ground. Our job is to help you identify where you’re stuck, explore options you might not have considered, and guide you toward solutions that both of you can live with. Seventy to eighty-five percent of mediations result in full agreements, and most of those couples started out thinking they’d never agree.
That said, mediation doesn’t work in every situation. If there’s active domestic violence, if one person is hiding assets, or if one of you refuses to negotiate in good faith, mediation probably isn’t the right choice. We’ll tell you that in the initial consultation. There’s no point wasting your time or money on a process that won’t work.
Everything you say in mediation is confidential under California law. Your mediator can’t be called to testify if you end up in court later. Nothing you disclose can be used against you. That’s the whole point—you need to be able to speak openly without worrying that honesty will hurt you.
The only exception is if someone discloses child abuse, elder abuse, or a credible threat of violence. Mediators are mandated reporters in those situations. Outside of that, what happens in mediation stays in mediation.
This is a huge advantage over litigation, where everything is public record. Court filings, testimony, financial disclosures—all of it can be accessed by anyone. If you’re worried about privacy, or if you just don’t want your neighbors reading about your divorce, mediation keeps your family matters out of the public eye.
Your kids don’t attend mediation sessions. This is a conversation between the two of you, facilitated by us. The goal is to create a parenting plan that prioritizes their well-being without putting them in the middle of your conflict.
California courts require mediation for child custody disputes, so if you’re divorcing and you have kids, you’re going to mediate custody one way or another. Doing it outside of court just gives you more control and flexibility. You can design a schedule that fits your kids’ actual lives—their school, their activities, their relationships with extended family—instead of defaulting to a standard custody template.
Research shows that kids adjust better to divorce when their parents can co-parent cooperatively. Mediation sets that tone from the beginning. You’re learning how to make decisions together, how to communicate about parenting issues, and how to put your kids’ needs ahead of your frustration with each other. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. But it’s easier than spending a year fighting in court while your kids watch.
Yes. Post-judgment mediation is common when circumstances change after your divorce is finalized. Maybe one of you is relocating, your income changed significantly, or your kids’ needs are different now than they were three years ago. You can mediate modifications to custody, parenting time, child support, or spousal support.
Going back to court for modifications is expensive and slow. The judge who approved your original agreement might not even be on the bench anymore. You’ll pay attorney fees, wait for hearing dates, and argue over changes that you could have worked out in a mediation session.
California courts prefer when parents resolve modifications through mediation. It shows you’re able to co-parent and adapt without judicial intervention. As long as the modification is in your children’s best interest and both of you agree, the court will almost always approve it. You file the updated agreement, the judge signs it, and you’re done.
Local Resources
Useful Links
Here are some lawyer-related links:
Other Services we provide in Marlboro
