You’re looking at $3,000 to $7,000 total to resolve your case through mediation. Compare that to $15,000 to $30,000 per person if you go to court. That’s not a small difference when you’re already dealing with Orange County’s cost of living.
But the money is only part of it. You’ll finish in three to six months instead of dragging this out for years while a judge who’s handling 1,500 other cases tries to make decisions about your family. Your kids won’t be caught in the middle of a courtroom battle, and nothing you discuss becomes public record.
You keep control. You and your spouse make the decisions about custody, support, and property division with a trained mediator guiding the conversation. The agreements you create together are the ones you’ll actually follow, because you both had a say in building them.
We work exclusively with Orange County families who want to avoid litigation. We’re certified in family law mediation, and we’ve built our entire practice around helping couples reach fair agreements without the financial and emotional cost of court.
Shadow Run sits in one of the most expensive housing markets in California, where the average home value exceeds $1.1 million. That reality affects every conversation about property division and support calculations. We understand the local dynamics because we work here every day.
Our flat-fee pricing model means you know exactly what you’re paying upfront. No surprise bills. No escalating hourly charges. Just transparent costs and a process designed to get you to resolution efficiently.
You’ll start with an initial consultation where we map out what needs to be resolved—child custody and parenting plans, property division, spousal support, child support, or all of the above. We’ll explain how mediation works, answer your questions about the process, and give you a clear picture of timeline and costs.
Then we schedule your mediation sessions. Most couples complete the process in just a few sessions. We facilitate the conversation, help you work through the tough decisions, and make sure both of you are heard. This isn’t about one person winning—it’s about creating solutions that work for your family.
Once you reach agreement, we document everything in writing. You’ll have a complete marital settlement agreement that covers custody arrangements, financial support, and property division. That agreement gets filed with the court and becomes your official divorce decree or custody order.
If circumstances change down the road—someone’s income shifts, a child’s needs evolve, or you need to modify support—we handle post-judgment mediation too. You don’t have to go back to court every time life changes.
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You get comprehensive coverage for everything involved in your family dispute. Child custody mediation focuses on creating parenting plans that serve your children’s best interests while preserving your co-parenting relationship. We help you work through schedules, decision-making authority, holidays, and all the details that matter.
Property division gets complicated fast in Orange County, where you’re dealing with high-value real estate, retirement accounts, business interests, and complex assets. We guide you through California’s community property laws and help you reach agreements on how to divide everything fairly.
Spousal support and child support calculations take into account Orange County’s high cost of living. We work through the financial details transparently so both of you understand how support amounts are determined and what makes sense for your situation.
For families with business interests, family business mediation addresses how to handle ownership, valuation, and ongoing operations without destroying what you’ve built. And if communication has broken down completely, we offer communication coaching to help you develop the skills you need for effective co-parenting.
The goal is always an amicable settlement that both of you can live with—one that doesn’t leave either person feeling steamrolled or resentful.
Family mediation typically costs between $3,000 and $7,000 total for both parties combined. That covers your entire case from start to finish with flat-fee pricing, so you’re not watching the clock tick away at $300 to $500 per hour.
Court litigation runs $15,000 to $30,000 per person on average. If your case is contested or involves complex assets—which is common in Orange County given the real estate values and business ownership—you could easily hit $50,000 or more per spouse. A California court pilot program found that families who settled through mediation saved an average of $18,497 per person.
Beyond the direct costs, you’re also looking at lost time. Court cases drag on for 12 to 24 months or longer because judges are handling over 1,500 cases each. Mediation gets you to resolution in three to six months, which means you can move forward with your life instead of being stuck in legal limbo.
Yes, and that’s actually the point. You’re not expected to walk in with agreements already in place. You’re coming to mediation because you need help working through the disagreements.
Our role is to facilitate productive conversation even when emotions are running high. We help you identify what matters most to each of you, explore options you might not have considered, and guide you toward solutions that address both parties’ core concerns. About 70% to 80% of cases that go through mediation reach full resolution.
The key difference from court is that you’re both actively participating in creating the outcome instead of having a judge who doesn’t know your family make decisions for you. That collaborative process leads to agreements you’re more likely to follow long-term. Mediated agreements generate fewer post-judgment disputes because both people had input in building the terms.
Even if you only reach partial agreement through mediation, you’ve still narrowed down what needs to be decided by a judge, which saves time and money.
Children who get caught in contested custody battles experience serious emotional and psychological trauma. When parents are fighting in court, kids often feel like they have to choose sides, and their relationships with both parents suffer.
Mediation takes a child-centered approach. Instead of positioning custody as a win-lose battle, we focus on creating parenting plans that serve your children’s actual needs. You’ll work together to figure out schedules, decision-making responsibilities, and how to handle transitions in ways that provide stability for your kids.
The cooperative environment of mediation also preserves your co-parenting relationship. You’re going to be dealing with each other for years—school events, medical decisions, graduations, weddings. Mediation helps you develop communication patterns and problem-solving skills that will serve you long after the divorce is finalized.
Your kids don’t have to testify. They don’t have to hear their parents attacking each other in a courtroom. They get to see their parents working together to make decisions about their future, which is exactly the model you want to set.
California is a community property state, which means everything acquired during the marriage gets divided equally unless you agree otherwise. In Shadow Run and the broader Orange County area, that often includes high-value real estate, significant retirement accounts, and sometimes business interests.
During property division mediation, we help you inventory all your assets and debts, determine what’s community property versus separate property, and work through how to divide everything fairly. Fair doesn’t always mean a perfect 50/50 split of every single asset—it means reaching an overall division that makes sense for your situation.
Maybe one of you keeps the house and the other takes a larger share of retirement accounts. Maybe you sell the property and split the proceeds. Maybe there’s a business that one person continues operating while the other receives compensation for their community property interest.
The advantage of mediating property division is that you have flexibility to get creative with solutions. A judge is limited to fairly rigid formulas and standard orders. In mediation, you can structure agreements that account for tax implications, timing considerations, and your actual priorities rather than just following a formula.
You don’t need an attorney to participate in mediation. California law doesn’t require legal representation for mediation, even for divorce or child custody cases. Many people complete the entire mediation process without hiring lawyers, which is part of how they save so much money.
That said, you’re always welcome to consult with an attorney outside of the mediation sessions if you want legal advice about your specific situation. Some people choose to have a lawyer review the final settlement agreement before signing, just to make sure they understand all the implications.
As your mediator, we can’t give you legal advice because we remain neutral. We’re facilitating the conversation and helping both of you reach agreement, not advocating for either side. But we can provide information about how California family law works, what’s typical in cases like yours, and what factors courts consider when making decisions.
If your case involves particularly complex assets, business valuations, or complicated tax issues, it might make sense to bring in other professionals like forensic accountants or financial planners. But for most family disputes, mediation gives you everything you need to reach a complete resolution without building a legal team.
Absolutely. Post-judgment mediation is one of the most valuable services we offer for families because circumstances change. A parent’s income increases or decreases. Kids get older and their needs evolve. Someone needs to relocate for work. A parenting schedule that worked when the kids were in elementary school doesn’t make sense when they’re teenagers.
Instead of filing a motion with the court and waiting months for a hearing, you can come back to mediation and work out modifications to your custody arrangement or support orders. It’s faster, cheaper, and far less adversarial than going back to court.
The same collaborative process that helped you reach your original agreement can help you adjust the terms as life changes. And because you’re working together to modify the arrangement rather than fighting in court, you preserve the co-parenting relationship and avoid putting your kids through another round of conflict.
California courts actually encourage mediation for post-judgment modifications. Many judges will order you to try mediation before they’ll even hear your case. Starting with mediation saves you the time and expense of a court battle while giving you more control over the outcome.
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