What is a third-party neutral?

When people go through a traditional divorce, it ends up in court. Each person may have a lawyer or an attorney on their side to represent them and help them with the case.

But with divorce mediation, things are a bit different. A couple will often work with a third-party neutral, who is a mediator. How is this role different than it would be if they were going through litigation?

They don’t take sides

The goal of a third-party neutral is different, starting with the fact that they’re not on either person’s side. They’re not representing the husband or the wife, and they’re not trying to “win” the case for either client.

Instead, the mediator is just helping to guide the process and ensuring that the couple understands their legal rights and options. They’re working with both people so that they can negotiate and come to joint solutions and compromises. In this way, mediation can keep them from having to go to court at all.

For example, the couple may not understand exactly how property division laws work or what counts as a marital asset or a separate asset. The third-party neutral can simply explain this to them and help them go through the asset division process. But they’re not trying to accomplish a specific goal as much as they are trying to explain the law and handle the technical details, such as filing paperwork properly as the divorce case moves forward.

Divorce mediation is often faster and cheaper than litigation, so be sure you know about all of your legal options when facing a potential divorce.