In family law, where emotions run high and it’s difficult to maintain relationships during the contentious litigation process, mediation offers a valuable alternative to dispute resolution.  More attorneys across Oklahoma are taking a stab at mediation by getting involved directly or by participating in training to maximize results with the process. 

Mediation has proven extremely effective in situations involving kids, like child custody.  Since these disputes tend to bring out the worst in the parties involved, resulting in drawn out battles in court that don’t focus on creating solutions but instead on pitting parties against one another. 

Some Oklahoma lawyers see mediation as incredibly beneficial because it allows parties to have a role in their own dispute resolution, rather than waiting for a court to create a resolution for them.  Mediation has ease in flexibility when it comes to scheduling, reducing the amount of time that parties and professionals have to spend discussing a dispute.  A trained mediator will be prepared to guide the discussion in a productive manner, taking a different approach than a litigator would.  Some of the family law disputes going through mediation in the state have reached a conclusion in one day or less, condensing what might have taken months on a busy court schedule. 

In the courtroom, parties each present their side, bringing out emotions like anger, jealousy, and hatred.  Even the atmosphere of mediation has substantial benefits over litigation, since the approach is designed to get individuals talking with, rather than over, one another. 

Many Oklahoma attorneys’ inroads with mediation charge much less for a mediated case, since it dramatically reduces their time in preparation.  Mediators who know what to expect will tend to charge flat rates, giving clients a sense of their total costs from the outset.  It’s expected that the number of attorneys in Oklahoma offering mediation services will only continue to grow.