When your financial support is somehow related to your partner’s income, a divorce may seem like the end of the world.

Many divorcing couples think the only answer is to litigate a settlement. At the very end, this will end up hurting you and your partner as well.

Divorce is a very unique situation, and it is understandable that the first reaction is to litigate. But think harder. You will end up, like it or not, negotiating with your partner. You can do it painfully and expensively or you can do it through a good mediator with experience in couple dynamics, power imbalance and knowledge of the law.

Divorce & Family Mediation Center will help both of you to negotiate any issues you consider important. We will help you to understand what issues are important for you, based on your needs and expectations. Not everybody can express their needs clearly, so we will guide you through the process to understand and elaborate on the following issues:

• Medical specific conditions
• Dental coverage for family members
• Life insurance beneficiaries
• Spousal support, if applicable, including amount of payment and time frame for payment
• Provisions for death or illness
• List of the necessary information to evaluate the proper amount of spousal support

Establishing an entitlement to support

There is no automatic obligation to pay spousal support the way there is for child support. As a result, the entitlement of a spouse to receive spousal support will be decided on the particular circumstances of that person and his or her relationship with the other spouse. In general, a mediator will follow the court considerations, among many others:

• Length of marriage
• Difference in incomes
• Economic disadvantage
• Earning capacity

Duration of support payments

Once a spouse’s entitlement to receive spousal support is established and the amount of support payments has been fixed, the next step is to look at the length of time for which the support payments should be made:

• Lump-sum payments
• Division of property
• Review dates
• Escalated payments