A couple is divorcing in Arizona. They have minor children. The wife filed for divorce, served the husband, and a response has been filed. The spouses have very different views, perhaps diametrically opposed views, about what monthly amount of support the wife should receive, what parenting time schedules are in the children’s best interests, and how to address the parties’ cash flowing rental property. Time is of the essence considering bills are arriving, and one of the parties’ children is already struggling with this new, two-household arrangement and starting to exhibit signs of resistance with parenting time. A Motion for Temporary Orders is filed. In Arizona family law court, these motions can temporarily be put in place pending the final dissolution of the marriage.
The Arizona Family Court Judge schedules a one-hour court date two months in the future. At the time of that hearing, each party will have only 25 minutes or so to address the complicated state of the parties’ finances, Arizona’s new spousal maintenance guidelines, and eleven factors related to the best interests of the children. Thereafter, the Judge will be tasked with analyzing hundreds of pages of documents and an hour of sworn testimony to render a decision that could likely determine the course of this divorce case. If you are thinking to yourself “how is this possible” and “there must be a better process,” rest assured, there is.
Mediation is a voluntary process in which the parties jointly select a neutral third-party facilitator to help reach resolution of all or some of the issues at any point in their divorce proceeding. The mediator is a private person who is engaged and will typically be compensated based on the time they spend at his or her hourly billing rate. The mediator does not have the power to make decisions; however, they can assist with memorializing agreements reached by the parties in some fashion.
The benefits of pursuing mediation to address temporary orders are many. First, cost. The cost to each party in preparing for and attending mediation will be far less than the cost to litigate temporary orders before the Family Court. Next, convenience and a less adversarial setting. Parties can wait for months for their court hearing date, and they have little to no control over the selection of the date. Compare that to the convenience of being able to select a mediator and a date for mediation that works best for all parties. In addition, instead of a stressful courtroom setting where proceedings are adversarial, mediations are conducted in either comfortable conference rooms or virtually where the parties can thoughtfully consider their options.
Overwhelmingly, when parties reach their own agreements through mediation, those agreements stick. However, in the rare case that challenges arise after mediation, another benefit to this process is a speedy and cost-effective resolution to those challenges. The parties could quickly return to mediation, or they can agree that the mediator will then serve as an arbitrator to efficiently resolve the dispute.
Finally, mediating a case earlier provides the opportunity to explore ancillary resources. The parties can agree to retain financial or therapeutic professionals to appraise properties or to work with the parents or the children. They can even negotiate the process and the timelines for exchanging information, known as disclosure, to fast track the case towards final resolution.
