Create your resolution instead of having one handed to you.
Divorce, paternity, custody, visitation, support, and small claims, resolved with a Los Angeles County certified mediator rather than a courtroom.
How we approach it
Litigation hands your family’s decisions to a judge who will spend twenty minutes on them. Mediation keeps them with you.
Mediation is a structured negotiation guided by a neutral. Both parties meet, in person or by video, and work through the issues one at a time: property, debts, support, parenting time, and the details that matter to your family. The mediator does not decide anything. The mediator keeps the conversation productive, explains how California law treats each issue, and drafts the agreement you reach.
The results speak for themselves. Mediated divorces usually conclude in a fraction of the time and cost of a contested case, and the agreements hold up better because both people wrote them. For parents, mediation protects the relationship you will need for the next eighteen years of co-parenting.
Our mediator is certified through the Los Angeles County program and brings over a decade of paralegal experience in family law, which means the agreement you reach is drafted in a form the court will accept. Where the paperwork needs to be prepared and filed, we handle that too.
What we handle
- Divorce & legal separationProperty division, debts, spousal support, the marital settlement agreement
- Child custody & visitationParenting plans, holiday schedules, decision-making
- Child supportGuideline calculations and agreed deviations
- PaternityEstablishing parentage and the orders that follow
- Post-judgment modificationsChanges to support or custody as life changes
- Small claims mediationResolve the dispute before the hearing
- Co-parenting disputesSpecific issues without reopening the whole case
- Pre-marital & marital agreementsFacilitated negotiation of terms
What people ask us first
- Do we both need lawyers to mediate?
- No. Many couples mediate without attorneys. Each person is free to consult a lawyer at any point, and we encourage it before signing a final agreement. The mediator remains neutral and does not represent either party.
- What if we disagree about almost everything?
- That is normal at the start. The process breaks the case into pieces and resolves them one at a time. Most couples who begin mediation finish it, even those who did not expect to.
- How long does a mediated divorce take?
- Most couples reach agreement in two to five sessions. California requires six months from service before a divorce is final, so the timeline is driven by the law’s waiting period rather than the negotiation.
- Is the agreement enforceable?
- Yes. The agreement is drafted as a marital settlement agreement or stipulation, filed with the court, and entered as a judgment. It carries the same force as an order a judge made.
Often needed alongside this
Tell us what you’re working on.
A free first conversation. We’ll tell you what it involves, what it costs, and whether you need us at all.
Santa Monica, California