Just recently I had a husband call who wanted to mediate his divorce rather than have a court fight. His wife agreed and we set up an initial mediation session. A divorce suit had not been filed yet, and the parties were going to file on their own.

Unfortunately, the wife told someone of their plans and that person told her that you cannot mediate a divorce before all the court pleadings were filed.

As a result of this erroneous information, she backed out of the mediation.

Let’s get this straight:
FACT: You can start a mediation at ANY TIME. You can even have a signed and binding settlement agreement BEFORE any pleadings are filed.

Lesson: Be careful of the information and advice you get from friends, family, hairdressers, bartenders and golf partners. It can really mess things up and cost you time, money, and unnecessary stress.