Divorce mediation in California provides a way for couples to arrange the dissolution of a marriage without paying cripplingly high legal bills, and most couples in the state who are considering a possible breakup would be well advised to investigate this alternative dispute resolution strategy.  A recent case in the state illustrates just how costly a court-based divorce process can be.  Frank and Jamie McCourt, the co-owners of the Dodgers, a Major League Baseball franchise, have spent more than two years in court arguing over the separation of their assets, which represents a large fortune.

Unfortunately, all those arguments have come at a cost in the form of legal bills to be paid to attorneys representing both sides in the marriage.  With the divorce now coming close to a final resolution, those legal bills represent a large fortune in themselves, totaling approximately $21 million.  Since Jamie McCourt, the wife in the case, is now slated to receive a settlement worth $130 million, the cost of pursuing the divorce has ended up totaling more than 16% of her entire settlement. 

Divorce Mediation in California Quicker and Cheaper

An often unspoken cost of court-based divorce is the time it takes to pursue this way of separating from a spouse.  In the case of the McCourts, the divorce took more than two years.  Divorce mediation generally provides a faster mechanism for a couple to split up so they can go on with the rest of their lives.  This is because mediation is a cooperative enterprise rather than one characterized by antagonism and conflict.