divorce

Should You Litigate or Mediate?

DoverFactCheck

When it comes to divorce, most people imagine the absolute worst to happen legally and emotionally. We hear about terrible divorces from our friends and the news, and we see stories in movies about heartbreak that typically involve a couple’s legal combat in the courtroom.

“Marriage Story” starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver has been praised by divorce lawyers for its realistic portrayal of real dynamics of litigation. In the movie, we learn that the legal system of divorce makes it difficult to reach a true win-win. It illustrates how divorce litigation is anything but just paperwork and facts. It shows why people who used to love each other eventually pursue the course of damaging one another’s reputation and credibility as much as possible in order to attain the settlement they are seeking.

3 Women in Suit Sitting

As such, audiences come away from the movie with being unable to pinpoint either person as the real villain or hero. Rather, the characters are recognized as being complicated and messy people who love each other but do not belong together. Despite the couple reaching many points of anger and exhaustion, it is evident that at no point does the couple ever truly hate one other. Rather, they are forced to their breaking point because of how challenging it is to navigate the difficult and convoluted process of divorce litigation. Moreover, we see how the combative nature of the litigation prompts lawyers to act overtly mean and invasive in order to win.

As you know, we write for the conspiracists and skeptics. We like to consider new and better alternatives to the norm. So this article is to question the narrative of divorce being the awful bureaucratic experience that it is commonly portrayed as. What if there was another way? A more friendly, fair, and communicative way?

Consider mediation. When it comes to choosing between a mediator or a family law attorney, most people prefer mediation because it is less antagonistic. Many people suffer physical health consequences because of the stress that arises through litigation in public court. In mediation, a neutral third party facilitates a resolution communicated by and agreed upon by both parties privately. Unlike a lawyer whose objective is to win a case, a mediator’s goal is to bring both parties to an agreement to what really matters: the division of assets, liabilities, and custody schedules.

McNamee Mediations is a divorce and family mediator who has been recognized as an expert Newport Beach, California. Colleen McNamee is unlike any divorce mediator we’ve reviewed. When it comes to divorce, most people don’t expect to fall in love again right before it becomes final. But some of Colleen’s clients have even reconciled during mediation instead of finalizing their divorce! She has over forty 5-star reviews on Yelp, which is astounding!

Mediation might be the right fit for you if you are looking for an alternative to litigation. If you are considering a divorce, you can give McNamee Mediations to inquire about their services.

McNamee Mediations
4590 MacArthur Blvd Suite 500, Newport Beach, CA 92660, United States

This Old Dog You Can’t Trick

DoverExaminer

There are times in life when the world gains a shade of red and everyone seems out to get you.  Few of those times are worse than being in the middle of a divorce.  If people would just be honest about their problems, maybe it would be bearable.  But, it’s the vicious backstabbing and fact clouding which makes your heart feel like it is perpetually smoldering.

I had the honor of hearing directly from a certain Dominic here in Santa Ana about how he eventually was able to pour healing water on the embers of his own messy divorce case.

“I never imagined it could be that bad,” said Dominic over a cup of coffee.  “You know, when you get married, divorce is the furthest thing from your mind.  I never thought that my wife could go as low as she did.  If it weren’t for Shuff Law, I would be curled up in a hole somewhere right now in despair.”

When I asked how he came by the Shuff Law Firm, he said that it was a stroke of providence.  He wasn’t aware of any divorce and family law firms in Orange County, and who would be? No one gets married with a divorce lawyer in mind.  He took a chance with Shuff and was not disappointed at all.

“My wife made it hard from the start,” he said.  “She was in the house while I had to find a cheap apartment to live in while the case worked itself out.  A mutual friend of ours actually suggested a couple of lawyers to me.  It turns out, my wife had already been to see them both.  She had told them just enough of her side of the story without hiring them that they weren’t open to helping me.  Since that freed me to go with Shuff Law, she actually did me a favor.”

Dominic had two young kids who he was fighting for custody as part of the divorce.  Numerous times in our conversation, he mentioned how afraid he had been that his kids would be taken away.  He knew that his wife was manipulative and emotionally abusive, but he had no idea how to prove that in court.  Besides, the woman almost always wins custody.

Continuing to relate his story, Dominic said, “Joe saved my sanity.  Even from the start, he assured me that the truth would prevail.  My wife may have manipulated me in the past, getting me into debt that I never wanted, and… well, I won’t dwell on all that.  Joe assured me that with him on my team, she would not be able to manipulate the court.”

“How were the meetings with Shuff Law?” I asked.

Dominic actually laughed.  It was the sort of laugh of someone who is amazed that they are still amazed by something weeks or months after the fact.  “Joe’s brilliant!  He helped me dig up emails, texts, and all sorts of other evidence that I had forgotten ever existed.  It’s as if he knew my life better than I did.  He had this uncanny intuition of where I should look for things.  I guess he’s been doing this a long time.”

“How’d things turn out?” I asked.

“I was crying for weeks,” he replied.  I must have looked concerned, because he quickly added, “Tears of joy.  They were tears of joy.  I got custody of the kids.  I thought I’d never be a happy man again.  I’m so glad that I was wrong and Joe was right.”

Dominic encouraged me to recommend the Shuff law firm to everyone I know.  He said that Joe was the best divorce attorney Santa Ana had to offer.  

Having heard Joe’s story, I’m inclined to agree.  A man who can triumph over deception and defend truth and innocence is a hero in my book.

Shuff Law Firm

2107 N Broadway #301, Santa Ana, CA 92706

(714) 834-0175

The Divorce Magician

DoverExaminer

In today’s world divorce is so common it has become almost habitual. Whether it is financial instability, infidelity, or insecurity, there seem to be more divorces every month. Add to this the process of divorce being painful and heartbreaking and you end up with many broken people and families.

Given this, Sunnyside reporter, Jackson Sparrow, was trying to get to the bottom of why divorce rates were plummeting in his town. He had tracked a significant decrease in divorce rates but didn’t know why or who is working behind the scenes to cause this decrease. After careful investigation,  Jackson had is first lead, one woman, a divorce mediator.

“Bingo! There she is!” after several searches, Jackson comes across a mediation website and is surprised by the results. A step-by-step guide in divorce preparation, maintaining a clean mindset, and collaboration techniques are all essential and manifested in the divorce process.

I was intrigued and started to dive in deeper, looking for couples who were going through the divorce process.

“So I guess you’re just with me for the money huh” said business owner, Bob, with suspicion.

“What do you mean? You’re making this a big deal, it’s just a purse and some heels” replied, his wife, Barbara.

After several arguments on the same topic, both Bob and Barbara hired lawyers separately to file for divorce.

“Bob & Barbara’s $290 million divorce!” was the headline cover for Star Magazine. On his way back from home, Sunnyside reporter, Sparrow, sprinted like a hungry cheetah chasing a gazelle to catch up with Bob.

Without catching a single breath, Sparrow said, “What’s up Bob? How’s it going? How’s the process looking?”

Not wanting to speak of the matter, “None of your damn business! Leave me alone.”

Sparrow notices how agitated Bob looks, so he decides to mention, “This probably doesn’t matter to you right now, but there is word of this divorce mediator making this process as easy as possible, you may want to check her out.” Sparrow replied.

“Thanks, honestly I appreciate this, many reporters come up to me, bash me, and make me look like I’m the bad person.” Bob says in relief, “I’ll give it a try, our lawyers have been a pain, I just want the process to be simple.”

A couple of weeks later, Sunnyside News decided to conduct an interview on Bob’s heartbreaking divorce. Sparrow was just the man for the job and was assigned to the story. Bob was thrilled to see Sparrow.

“I remember you, thank you once again, the divorce mediator was stellar!” replied Bob with happiness, “She saved us a ton of money and actually helped my wife and I to be on better terms than when we had started this whole process.

Sparrow was pleased with the results, but he needed to find more couples who had worked with the mediator to get a fuller picture of the decline in divorce rates.

After a little more searching and a bit of luck, Sparrow actually found a couple who had restored their relationships and stayed together after being on the brink of splitting up. Which is even better news knowing that they have three kids!

It turns out that this divorce mediator is also an expert in family law. Which was a huge gamechanger for this family with three kids. Think of the difference for those kids, not having to live in different houses and sharing time with parents, now getting to stay together all as a big happy family. Sparrow was able to meet up with this family and interview them and get more insight into her process:

“Second chances are a form of redemption.” said Justin, confidently when he found out his wife committed a grave mistake, “the divorce mediator was really there to help us out and made me realize the importance of self-love.”

“Listen, what your wife did was wrong, but you have three beautiful kids and a house both of you worked so hard to get.” replied the divorce mediator with reassurance, “don’t throw 15 years of marriage down the drain.”

“See honey, I know I should’ve never bought that purse” said Rebecca with tears in her eyes.

“You’ve been pretty consistent, over the last two years buying expensive things you don’t need”  replied Justin with a straight look on his face, “You stay at home, don’t work, I give you all the freedom in the world, yet you’re over here buying this and that.”

After 2 minutes of silence, “you’re right, what I’ve done is childish, please forgive me.”

“I’m doing everything I can to make enough to get buy, but we need to be better about tracking our expenses to prevent this from happening” replied Justin affirmatively.

“Alright guys, let this be a reminder, we’re all in this together, I’ll see you next week.” said the divorce mediator.

In the end, they were able to work out their differences and the family is now living happily together. It turns out that the hard work or one caring individual really can change a town. If you need to talk to a mediator, heres where you can connect:

McNamee Mediations

4590 MacArthur Blvd Suite 500, Newport Beach, CA 92660

(949) 223-3836