Certified Family Court Mediator Helps South Carolina Couples Resolve Disputes

Skilled Mount Pleasant attorney finds common ground between divorcing spouses

When you take your divorce case to a family court judge, it can take a significant emotional and financial toll. Fortunately, mediation offers a way to simplify your divorce or other family court action and reduce costs while still achieving your goals. Mediation can help you reach a settlement on important issues, such as child custody, child support, spousal support and the division of marital property.

Douglas Barker is a Certified Family Court Mediator. He conducts a confidential process that helps you resolve issues together instead of having them decided by a judge. All decisions are made by you and the other party involved in the dispute, and you don’t give up any rights by participating in mediation.

Mediation is an excellent solution when both spouses are willing to work to resolve contested issues. If your situation does not seem the perfect fit for mediation, you will still have to try mediation before taking your case before a judge. South Carolina law requires mediation as a first step before scheduling a family court trial.

Mediation process

During mediation, Douglas Barker is neutral — he’s not on either party’s side. He helps couples resolve pre- and post-separation issues, including who will leave the home and how expenses will be paid on a temporary basis, as well as what the children’s schedules will look like. The issues that mediation can resolve include:

• Child custody
• Visitation
• Support
• Spousal support
• Division of assets and debts
• Tax-related matters
• Attorney fees

Douglas Barker has the knowledge and skill to guide you through the mediation process toward a mutually acceptable, cost-effective resolution of your most contentious issues.

Benefits of mediation

Sometimes, you just need to get past a few sticky issues to be able to reach consensus. The best way to control costs during divorce is to negotiate a settlement agreement of all the ancillary issues and present it to the court for approval. Even if you don’t achieve a complete agreement, you can settle most issues and hold the remaining points over for trial. Mediation offers a range of benefits over litigation:

• It is less expensive.
• It offers flexible scheduling.
• It takes less time than litigation.
• It protects parties from adverse court orders.
• It provides more privacy than divorce litigated in court.

As an experienced divorce attorney and certified mediator, Douglas Barker helps clients maximize the benefits of mediation so that their marriage dissolution is as stress-free as possible.

Contact a reliable Mount Pleasant certified family court mediator

Mediation can speed your divorce process, reduce your stress and control costs. Call Douglas A. Barker, Certified Family Court Mediator, at 843-640-0532 or contact us online for a consultation.