- DivorceThe Center for Divorce Mediation, like many mediators, strongly recommends that clients meet with a consulting attorney prior to signing the divorce agreement. The role of the consulting attorney is that of an expert who can educate the client as to his or her legal rights, help the client to evaluate the options before him or her, and to review the legal paperwork to make sure the client’s rights are protected and the agreement is fair and reasonable.
- Child SupportOn April 18, 1996, the Governor of Arizona approved a law to establish Domestic Relations Education on Children’s Issues Programs throughout the state. This law (Arizona Revised Statutes § 25-351 et seq.) requires every parent of a natural or adopted unemancipated minor child who files for divorce, separation, parenting time/custody, or any paternity proceeding in which a party has requested that the Superior Court determine custody, specific parenting time or child support to attend a Parent Education class. The Court may order attendance when parents are involved in a child support case or seek to change an order for custody or parenting time. This booklet answers commonly asked questions about the class.
- Child Custody and VisitationStatistics show high levels of nonpayment of child and spousal support and frequent contempt hearings on issues of custody and visitation. These are costly emotionally and financially.
- GuardianshipTypical issues addressed are: the selection of caregiver for the elderly parent; inheritance or estate planning issues; financial decisions such as who will manage the finances for the elderly parent; the wish for an elderly parent to continue driving despite multiple auto accidents; residence issues; medical treatment decisions; and guardianship/conservator issues.
- Spousal SupportNo differences were found in percentage of family income women received, in percentage of liabilities women received, in the likelihood of receiving alimony or in the amount of alimony obtained in mediated versus adversarial divorces. Similar percentages of couples, 62% in both formats, selected joint legal/wife physical as the most popular choice of custody arrangement and identical numbers of days per month were spent by children with father, 9.5, and mother 20.5.
- AnnulmentWhen we mediate divorce cases, we focus most of our time on the classic issues of marital property, support, and parenting. For many couples, however, there is also the issue of a religious divorce. Jewish couples may ultimately want to obtain a Jewish divorce or “Get” and Catholic couples, usually without children, may want to obtain a Church Annulment. The main reason for obtaining a Get or Church Annulment is so that either party may remarry in a religious ceremony. As mediators, we facilitate discussion about the issues of religious divorce, provide information and resources about Gets and Church Annulments to those who request it, help the couple reach resolution,.and include what the couple decides in the Mediation Agreement. It is easier to do this when the couple obtains their civil divorce and the parties are implementing the other aspects of their divorce. Later, the couple may be geographically separated or not as willing to work on the issue for a variety of reasons.
- Child AbuseIn the event Mary G. Marcus, Ph.D. mediates, we understand that although she is a psychologist, she does not provide therapy during the mediation sessions, and that she has a legal duty to report child abuse and neglect.
- Auto Accidents
- Estate Planning
- Tax LawAnother tax law provision affecting divorcing couples is the education expense credit and life-time learning deduction. As couples decide how to provide for their children’s educational expenses and how to allocate tax deductions for the children, they will need to consider consulting their accountants to determine whether it would be advantageous for the college age child of a high income couple to no longer be considered a dependent and therefore to take advantage of the educational expense credit.