Family Law and Divorce Mediation Skills and Issues

This training helps experienced and recently trained mediators expand their practice into the area of divorce and family law disputes. The training is divided into eight half-day sessions. These sessions will include ten hours of family law training which meet the CADRES requirement as well training in fundamental mediation skills and complex issues. The law sessions will alternate with skills training sessions.

Participants must have completed a 40 hour mediation training and be prepared to use their math skills to add, subtract, multiply, divide, and calculate percentages.

The first morning session (Thursday, May 3, 10-noon) is designed for those unfamiliar with court procedures and the CADRES system. For attorneys and others familiar with these processes, the program begins at 12:30. In this morning session, participants will:

• review forms used by litigants, judges, and mediators
• learn the timetable for family law disputes
• have an opportunity to ask questions about the CADRES system

Beginning on Thursday afternoon and continuing on Friday afternoon May 4 and Friday morning May 11, the family law sessions will outline and explain the three major areas of divorce and family law cases: children, property, and spousal support. The instruction consists primarily of didactic lecture, but includes problem solving exercises and discussions about how to use the applicable legal framework in the mediation sessions. In these sessions you will:

• learn the basics of the statutory law, the applicable definitions, and basic concepts
• learn practical tasks, such as calculating child support using child support guidelines
• apply your new knowledge by working through several hypothetical cases and sample child support problems

The sessions on Friday morning, May 4 and Friday afternoon, May 11, give participants an opportunity to practice mediation skills based on basic family law concepts. The first session focuses on developing a parenting plan using the best interests standard and adult financial issues including win-win solutions to marital property, options for dividing equity in the marital home, and allocating debt. The second session focuses on explaining and calculating child support and techniques for addressing disputes about income. In these sessions you will:

• learn to work with factual information from typical cases
• learn to explain basic family law concepts to mediation participants
• gain confidence by mediating realistic divorce and family matters issues
• develop a vocabulary for observing and evaluating mediation sessions.

On final Friday morning session will introduce the mediator to select complex issues in family law cases and provide opportunities to practice mediation skills when those issues arise. It focuses on issues involving children, including safety planning, child resistance to parent-child contact, when and how to talk about the appointment of a guardian ad litem, and complex child support issues. The afternoon session focuses on adult issues such as pressing interim issues, non-marital property, allegations of economic misconduct, and ways to help participants analyze spousal support options.