A recent article written by Ann O’Neill for CNN.com brought to light an example of the conflict surrounding the issue of “paternity” and what it means to be an unwed father seeking participation in his child’s life.

The article focuses on the ongoing legal battle between actor Jason Patric and former girlfriend Danielle Schreiber over paternity rights for their four-year-old son, Gus.   According to Schreiber, Patric was nothing but a sperm donor for their son, who was born via in vitro fertilization.   She insists that for the first two years of the boy’s life, Patric was only a visitor and hadn’t even set up a crib in his home for Gus.

However, Patric is seeking full paternity rights and the court struggle is showing just how difficult it is to determine an unwed father’s place in his child’s life.   Schreiber is married (Patric is not) and has done everything from filing restraining orders to seeking court rulings to keep her former boyfriend from even mentioning Gus’s name via social media or to the media.   She insists that Patric has not performed the role of “father” until recently, and even requested that his name be kept off of Gus’s birth certificate (which it was).

So what paternity rights does a biological father have?  In a time when marriage is still seen by the courts as the best environment in which to raise children, and when many states have legalized gay marriage, the legal implications of this question have become more prevalent.

At the time Patric interviewed with CNN, he had not seen Gus in 66 weeks.  However, he points out that he drove Gus’s mother to the Los Angeles clinic where Gus was conceived, and she listed both herself and Patric as the “intended parents” of the boy.   He states that they celebrated Gus’s first birthday together and that Gus called him “dada”.

Patric states, “Two years ago, my birthday was on Father’s Day.  I went out with Gus and Danielle.  She got me a big Father’s Day cake with Gus’ picture on it for my birthday.  I have pictures of that and the cake.  Within 10 days of that, she said, ‘I have a lawyer, call a lawyer,’ and would not speak to me again.”

The couple attempted to work out the paternity dispute through mediation, but was unsuccessful.   This year marks the second year that Patric has spent away from Gus on father’s day.   “Of course it’s incredibly sad,” he said.  “It’s the most important thing you can be to someone, a parent, and that’s what I’ve done.  It’s about the boy, and you have to make everything about him.”

Although Patric is still fighting the courts for his paternity rights, he takes comfort in knowing that regardless of the outcome, Gus “will have a record of how hard I fought for him.”

When a beloved family member passes away, the family he or she leaves behind is often in significant turmoil and grief.  Add to this the problems that can often arise after granting probate to the executor, and suddenly, family disagreements over probate can turn a family that was once close knit into a family that can barely stand to be in the room with each other.

No doubt about it—distribution of an estate’s assets and property is one of the most conflict-ridden types of legal process there is.   When a family decides to take this conflict to the probate courts, the conflict is often greatly multiplied due to the adversarial process of litigation.   In addition, a probate court judge does not adequately deal with the underlying causes that caused probate problems in the first place.   He or she will simply make a decision and the family will have to live with it.

Probate mediation, however, works differently and is a far less contentious way of dealing with issues that arise during probate.

1. First, probate mediation saves time and money for the family.
2. Second, probate mediation is completely confidential, allowing the family to keep its conflict away from public scrutiny.
3. Third, probate mediation keeps the control of the outcome in the hands of the family members, rather than in the hands of the probate judge.
4. And finally, perhaps most importantly, probate mediation allows the family to communicate their grievances in such a way as to clear the air and get to the root cause of the issue (which is often far removed from the present-day conflict).

This type of open discussion and exploration of the root cause of the conflict not only helps the family to heal—it helps the family to move beyond the problem and build a better relationship with each other.    In most cases, this is exactly what the family member who has passed away would want.   It is in this exploration of the underlying issues and open communication that probate mediation shows its most beneficial quality—preserving relationships and de-escalating tension.

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Medical malpractice mediation is on the rise, as is the number of Americans that have been hurt or killed by negligent doctors and health care workers.  According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), while heart disease and cancer hold the number one and number two spots, medical malpractice is the third most common cause of death in the US.  In fact, an amount totaling over $3 billion was paid out to medical malpractice victims in 2012, with an average lawsuit of one payout every 43 minutes.

So considering these startling numbers, there is a very high likelihood that at some point in your life, you could be involved in a medical malpractice claim requiring mediation.  However, just because you achieved disappointing results after a surgery or things didn’t go quite like the doctor suggested they would, it doesn’t mean you have a viable medical malpractice claim.  If you do have a viable claim, medical malpractice mediation offers considerable advantage over litigation:

1. The final outcome remains in your hands.  You won’t have anyone else determining your settlement—it will be an agreement between you and the health care provider.  This also means that if you are not offered an agreeable settlement by the other party, you have the option to reject the offer and move the case through to litigation.

2. Payouts start coming in quicker.  Since litigated medical malpractice claims can take several months (even years) to reach resolution, your potential settlement will also be that far down the road.  With medical malpractice mediation, as soon as a settlement is agreed upon by the parties in conflict, payouts can and do begin.

3. Neither side needs to pay outside lawyers.  This certainly makes medical malpractice mediation more inviting, especially since attorney fees in a litigated case can end up costing more than originally anticipated.

4. Mediation can be a stepping stone.  Mediation can operate as a stepping stone to arbitration or litigation, which are both options if mediation doesn’t work.  If you are unhappy with the results of mediation, you can look for other options for resolving your legal claim.

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Inheritance disputes are especially difficult conflicts for a family to suffer through, but they arise often.  What makes inheritance disputes particularly difficult is the emotions involved between family members—emotions that have likely been building over the years and have little at all to do with the issue at hand.  This is why mediation is such a powerful tool for resolving inheritance disputes.

Here are four tips for keeping things in the right perspective if you are in the process of inheritance dispute mediation:

1. Understand that grief is a major player.  Since inheritance disputes usually follow the death of a loved one, grief will still be a part of the equation in dealing with family emotions.  Understanding each other’s grief will keep the tone gentler and allow you to work through the conflict with less bitterness and anger.

2. Address relationship problems.  Often, these relationship problems end up being the core of the money problems.  If resolution is reached with the relationship, it will be easier to resolve the inheritance dispute.

3. Get over the embarrassment.  Families entering inheritance dispute mediation are often embarrassed to be in the situation in the first place.  After all, they should be able to solve their family fights on their own, right?  Wrong.  Family members sometimes need to be made aware of what is considered fair and just by the law.  An inheritance dispute mediator would be able to facilitate this discussion.  Other times, a “referee” is needed to make sure no one fights dirty.  An inheritance dispute mediator can do this, too.

4. Don’t expect immediate results.  As with many family conflicts, time often heals wounds.  It takes time to dig deep enough into the issue to get to the root of a problem, and it takes time for grief to be recognized.  With this in mind, don’t go into the first mediation session expecting to fix everything then and there.  It might take two or more 2-hour sessions before any real resolution is reached.

There are several common names for adoption mediation, and you might hear it referred to as open adoption mediation, child welfare mediation or cooperative adoption planning mediation.  Regardless of its name, adoption mediation involves utilizing the assistance of a neutral, third-party mediator to resolve any conflicts that might arise in the adoption process and ensure that everything is handled correctly from a legal standpoint.

In many cases of adoption, both the adoptive parent(s) and birth parent(s) choose open adoption—a term which defines an adoption in which the adoptive family and the birth family communicate with each other concerning the decisions and timeframe related to the adoption procedure.  This is one of the many reasons why adoption mediation is important—particularly in situations of open adoption.

It is also important to understand what open adoption does not mean.  It doesn’t mean that the adoptive family and the birth family share custody or decision making once the adoption has been finalized.  It also doesn’t mean that the child must be told that he or she is adopted, and who his or her birth parents are (unless the adopting family later decides to reveal this information.)

So how does it work?

In adoption mediation, the mediator will first meet separately with the primary stakeholders (adults) involved in the open adoption process.  This usually includes the birth mother, the birth father and the adoptive family; however, it can also include grandparents, siblings and other people who will be significant in the child’s life after the adoption process is complete.

After these separate meetings, all stakeholders will be involved in a meeting in which the adoption mediator assists in finalizing the details of the adoption process.  If there is conflict relating to one or several points, the mediator will assist in helping both families make a decision that is best for the child/children involved.  However, the decisions are ultimately the families’ decisions to make, and the mediator will never force an agreement between parties.

Gamblers understand that there is risk involved in the activity, but there are some instances where the responsibility for loss lies in the hands of the casinos, themselves.  In these cases, gaming mediation is a cost-effective, highly successful method of alternative dispute resolution to recoup money owed or hold a casino legally responsible for unfair treatment.

Here are some of the situations in which gaming mediation can be an effective legal remedy:

• A gamer has not been paid his or her winnings by the casino.
• A gamer has not received perks or bonuses promised by a casino.
• A gamer has received poor service, incorrect information, or unfair treatment from a casino.

Since many casinos thrive on a positive reputation among gamers and gamblers, it is important for them to deal with complaints of unfair or unprofessional practices as quickly and confidential as possible.  That’s why gaming mediation has become such a popular method of resolving gaming-related and casino-related conflicts—it offers absolute confidentiality, cost-effective legal remedy, and a quick resolution process that avoids the courts and litigation altogether.

If you are a gamer and need conflict resolution, here are a few steps to follow before pursuing mediation.

1) Contact the casino first to express your problem or complaint.  Having a thorough knowledge of the casino’s own rules and regulation can also assist in determining the level of legal recourse you might have.

2) If the casino does not offer a satisfactory remedy, contact a mediator with experience in gaming mediation.  The laws relating to gaming vary by state and gaming mediation requires a unique expertise.  Mediators with extensive experience mediating gaming disputes should be able to offer references and examples of past disputes they have settled via the process of gaming mediation.

3) In the initial meeting with your gaming mediator, be sure to bring any documents and proof that you have regarding the dispute.  Remember: the more evidence you have, the more likely you are to achieve a successful and acceptable resolution.  If you were unfairly treated by a casino and there were witnesses to the event, you will need to provide contact information for the witnesses.  If you were able to record the incident with a cell phone camera or other recording device, bring the recording with you as further proof.

Food and drug product liability is a common dispute and cause of mediation, making food and drug mediation a growing area of alternative dispute resolution. The reason for the increase in attention is an increase in the number of people who are affected, particularly by prescription drugs. In fact, seven out of ten Americans take a prescription drug and 20 percent take at least five different prescribed medications, according to a recent study released in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

In addition to assisting in resolving issues of product safety and manufacturer’s negligence, food and drug mediators can assist consumers who have been injured by food and drug consumption. The law provides stipulations for remedies if a consumer experiences life-threatening, or health-related, problems associated with negligence on the part of the manufacturer, and food and drug mediation can be a cost-effective, time-saving method of pursuing those legal remedies.

Food and drug manufacturers and distributors are required by law to test product safety before releasing it on the market. If there are any risks involved with consumption or use of the product, the law requires that warning labels be clearly placed on the product. Both the manufacturer and the distributor can be held liable for damage caused if this step is not carried out.

Here are some of the most common reasons consumers might need food and drug mediation:

Design Defects – The manufacturer is responsible for reasonably ensuring that the risk of injury to consumers is as low as possible. If there is a defect in the design of a product that hampers this, the manufacturer could be held legally responsible for compensation of damages.

Marketing Defects – If the manufacturer fails to provide inadequate instructions or warnings about the product’s risks, they can be held liable for any damages the product causes.

Manufacturing Defects – If a mistake occurs in design and that mistake causes harm to the consumer, the manufacturer could be held legally responsible.