Tips for Mediating Your Child Custody Case

Most people picture mediation as encapsulating the overall divorce process, but that’s not always the case. Couples frequently use mediation to reach an agreement on how to handle specific issues, child custody included. Knowing how to proceed in your custody mediation could help you get the best results for your child.

To schedule a consultation with our mediation attorneys, contact us online or via phone at (415) 805-9069.

If you’re in the midst of a divorce, it can be easy to get caught up in the disagreements you may have with your soon-to-be-ex and how they’re handling the dissolution of your marriage.

Unfortunately, getting into spats with your spouse about the divorce probably won’t help you find a more peaceful outcome to your child custody case, which is typically the goal of mediation.

Try and ensure that you make your child’s needs the priority throughout your case. By putting your child front and center, you help ensure that you both focus on what’s really important: Ensuring your kid has the arrangement they need to thrive.

Many spouses find themselves in the awkward position of no longer enjoying speaking with each other or having consistent disagreements, yet wanting to work together to have a functional co-parenting relationship and custody arrangement.

While a mediator can certainly help reduce conflict, an experienced family therapist can further enhance the likelihood of successfully mediating your custody case. A psychologist can help provide both parties with an objective, unbiased view of their case. This can be a valuable alternative perspective that helps both parents see matters more clearly.

Perhaps more importantly, a family therapist will also understand how different custody arrangements could impact your child given their emotional and physical maturity. This can be invaluable when putting together a custody arrangement that serves your child.

As you’re probably picking up on, reducing conflict is the name of the game in mediation. Setting boundaries with your ex, such as disallowing communication beyond certain hours or platforms, can help maintain the distance you need to see your custody mediation through to the end without constantly getting into arguments that just waste both parents’ time and cause more hard feelings.

The primary benefit of mediation is that you maintain control over the outcome of your case. Even if you don’t get as much time with your child as you’d like in an ideal world, you still have control over your custody arrangement without having to rely on the court to make a decision for you.

Compromising with your spouse may not be easy, especially if you don’t like the offers they put forth, but keep in mind that compromising with them still gives you more agency than relying on the court to decide your custody case for you.

At Fenchel Family Law PC, we’ll help you find the best path forward in your mediation dispute. Contact us online or via phone at (415) 805-9069 to schedule a consultation with our team.