I want to thank my colleague Ellice Halpern for writing about The Guide to Low-Cost Divorce in Virginia on her Little Falls Mediation website. While my focus is solely on family mediation, Ellice offers mediation services for a wide variety of other disputes. Mediation is a private, confidential process for resolving disputes outside of court. Business • disagreements […]

On her 11th anniversary, my friend Rebecca Geller shared the comments below on Facebook. There are clues here about how some marriages succeed, so I asked for permission to post what she shared. Rebecca said yes. Eleven years ago today we walked down the aisle and said “I do”. We were young, in love, and

by guest author Lisa Green Despite the headlines, most marriages last a lifetime. In fact, the overall divorce rate has been trending downward for some time now. However, one demographic has seen a steady rise in the number of divorces: people age fifty and older.  They are called gray divorces. Between 1990 and 2010 the divorce rate

  By Guest Author Nicole Dash As far back as I can remember, Santa visited me and my sisters two times every Christmas. It was the perk of growing up in a divorced family. “Double the presents, double the fun.” At least this is how it was sold to three little girls being shipped on

  Once upon a time, politicians got elected and then found ways to work together to govern their towns, counties, states, and countries constructively. Life was good. Then an evil magician poisoned the nation’s atmosphere. Politicians became more interested in placing blame and making others look bad than in doing anything useful. The people followed

  I have lost count of the sad, sad stories I have heard about people who tried mediation but failed to reach an agreement. Sometimes I get really angry at one or both lawyers involved in the case for using tactics that intensify fear and anger in the clients. The increased conflict does a lot

by Ed Farber, Ph.D. To your child only two things about divorce are good: double birthday presents and double holidays.  Parents manage the holidays after separation and divorce in many different ways. Some alternate years —Thanksgiving with father in even-numbered years and with mother in odd-numbered years. If Thanksgiving is with mother, then Christmas Day is

  by Guest Author Sonja Aoun Choosing a lawyer to represent you in a divorce can be overwhelming. In addition to the more obvious factors to consider, such as experience or whether the attorney was referred to you by someone whose judgment you trust, here are some things to keep in mind: 1. Your lawyer

COVID-19 Note: Mediation services are also available online. by Guest Author Robert E. Emery, Ph.D. Divorced parents still must fulfill their responsibilities to their kids, and in my view, children should have rights in divorced families. Here is my Children’s Bill of Rights in Divorce. If you can give your children these freedoms, you will

    A question for separated, divorced, and never-married parents: What kinds of holiday memories are you creating for your children? Joyful, generous, grateful celebrations in two households? Parents squabbling over who gets the kids when? Bitter diatribes about how awful the other parent is?   Most kids love both parents. They do not want to