Arizona Divorce and Family Law Mediation and Arbitration

Mediations generally take place at the mediator’s private office. Some mediations occur in the same room (i.e. both parties and the mediator are in one room – as well as the attorneys if involved). Most mediators, however, caucus between the parties. This means the parties are in separate rooms and the mediators go back and forth between the rooms and attempt to resolve the issues. If agreements are reached, the mediator (if also a licensed document preparer) can draft the final settlement documents to provide for the Court’s approval.

Mediation is a confidential process, meaning that whatever is said during the mediation cannot be used in subsequent litigation between the parties. Mediation can be an excellent method to settle all issues without having to go to trial. However, parties are generally advised to obtain and exchange all information and necessary documents to identify all community property and debts and any other material information (such as property values etc.) prior to proceeding to mediation.

Some mediations can be completed fairly quickly (i.e. in an hour or two). Some may take a full day. In rare cases, mediations may extend over a number of days depending on the complexity of the issues and how quickly the parties can reach a resolution.

The bottom line is that if you settle all issues during a mediation, both parties can avoid going to trial and can then put an end to the divorce or other family law proceedings.

What is Arbitration?

While mediation is a process to attempt to settle issues, arbitration takes place regarding issues that the parties are not able to settle. Arbitration is not available unless both parties agree to such process. Arbitration is when parties hire a neutral expert attorney to basically act as a private judge. The advantages to arbitration is that you can generally have an arbitration hearing much more quickly than a trial through the regular court system. You can also generally obtain quicker rulings regarding preliminary issues. The arbitration process is often less formal and demanding than having to follow all of the rules set forth by the Superior Court.

Although all Superior Court judges practiced as attorneys prior to becoming judges, many have never practiced in divorce or family law before. Thus, hiring an expert divorce and family law attorney as your arbitrator may help ensure that you have somebody making the final decisions that has many years of experience and specialized knowledge regarding your issues.

Sometimes the parties first agree to hire an expert attorney as the mediator, and then give such person authority to “switch hats” and sit as the arbitrator to make decisions regarding any issues that were unable to be settled through mediation. This can be a great time saver as you do not have to wait for your trial, and because the mediator is already familiar with who you are and what the issues are.

The parties may agree to waive any rights to appeal the arbitrator’s final decisions or may agree to very limited appeal rights. This can also save the parties’ substantial post-decision expenses.

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Conclusioni:

The regular Court process can take many months and sometimes years to complete. Mediation and/or Arbitration often provide an expedited process that can save the parties substantial attorney fees and costs in the long run. Although you pay a private mediation or arbitrator an hourly fee for his or her time (as opposed to your regularly appointed judge), in our experience you may save far more in attorney fees in the long run, not to mention getting on with your life much more quickly. 

We suggest that you attempt mediation first before deciding if you want to arbitrate the contested issues. William Bishop provides mediation services through his separate professional office called AZ Premier Mediation. For him to provide mediation services, however, you cannot be a client of Bishop, Del Vecchio & Beeks for the reason that an attorney cannot act as a mediator if the client is represented by a firm that he or she is affiliated with. 

If you and the other party would like to explore mediation, we invite you to call our office at (602) 878-3133 and let our office manager Carolyn know that you are interested in mediation. We will then make sure to include both parties in the process to avoid any conflict of interest.