What if you could navigate your divorce with reduced stress and greater control? In this episode, Scott Levin, Chief Peacekeeper and family law attorney, collaborates with Tanya Aure, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, to examine the divorce mediation vs attorney differences and how mediation vs litigation differ for divorce proceedings.
Tanya and I clarify the mediation process, highlighting how it allows you to retain decision-making authority rather than leaving it in the hands of your attorney. We share our personal experiences and delve into practical considerations when thinking about a California mediator vs lawyer for divorce, from asset division to determining the future of your home and vehicles.
Discover why mediation is a faster, more cost-effective, and empowering option for you and your spouse. Gain valuable insights into how mediation encourages direct communication and mutual agreement, and learn why we are strong advocates for this amicable divorce process approach over traditional litigation.
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from two experienced professionals about how you can take charge of your divorce journey.
Thanks for listening and I hope you'll continue to learn more about how you can peacefully divorce.
As a divorce mediation attorney in California, Scott Levin helps couples figure out the settlement terms and draft enforceable settlement agreements so they can divorce fairly without needing to go to court. Obtain closure peacefully through an amicable divorce. process that protects families and kids.
Visit San Diego Divorce Mediation for more information and to learn more about our mission to help divorcing couples make informed decisions and fair agreements through mediation or book a free virtual consultation.
Scott Levin, attorney, mediator, CDFA®
Chief PeaceKeeper
scottlevinmediation@gmail.com
858-255-1321
San Diego Divorce Mediation & Family Law
www.SanDiegoFamilyLawyer.net
Episode Transcript
Hey everybody, this is Scott Levin, Chief
Peacekeeper.
I'm a family law attorney andmediator based in California.
I'm here with Tanya Arre.
Hi Tanya, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hi, scott, thanks for having me again.
I'm great.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Absolutely.
Tanya is a fantastic certifieddivorce financial analyst.
I worked with her for goshTanya before the pandemic right.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh my gosh, before the pandemic.
Can you believe it?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, we had less wrinkles back then.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
We did.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Or I did.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I definitely did, and I had less gray hair then, but
that's okay.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
That was okay.
You know gray hairs are good.
So Tanya had an interestingidea for a quick video.
Basically, I guess, tanya, whydon't you introduce it and we'll
go from there.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
So, scott, I wanted to come back on to ask you a
question that I get all the timeas a CDFA.
People come to me about theirfinances, right.
Then they start asking legalquestions which I simply cannot
answer.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
But the biggest question I get is what is the
difference between going throughmediation and going through
litigation?
What does that look like?
Do I involve my spouse?
Do I not involve my spouse?
Exactly what the difference?
Is the difference to navigatethe process?
Well, lots of differences.
I'll kind of try to hit themquickly.
And then, of course, tanya andI have both written about this.
We'll put links to where youcan find some more information.
But generally as a mediator, Idon't litigate cases, so the
(01:36):
timeline that my clients are onis highly expedited.
Versus a litigated case.
You know, the average litigateddivorce, whether you're
fighting or not, once you bringin lawyers, it makes it more
formal, so it's like almost twoyears in the contested process
versus.
You know, the average case thatI'm working on is about two
(01:57):
months, so it's a much fasterprocess to get to a settlement
and get everything signedprocess to get to a settlement
and get everything signed.
It's much less expensive,obviously.
The end result, though, is ajudgment that's enforceable by
the state of California.
So the end result is the sameis an agreement on the same
scope of terms.
It's just a quicker, morecollaborative approach, and when
(02:21):
you're when you hire anattorney for divorce, one thing
that you'll find and sometimesthat's required to have an
attorney and go to court youwon't really be in control of
the case.
You hire an attorney.
They have their playbook forhow they handle divorce cases,
and none of their clients aregoing to get them off that
(02:43):
playbook, so you're not going tobe able to you know push it
faster.
You're not going to be able todivert from their the way that
they do discovery or exchange offinancial docs, you're going to
kind of be that person's goingto kind of become everything to
you and you won't really have asay in a lot of like what's
(03:03):
happening In mediation.
It's completely different, right, the mediator is there helping
you guys talk things out, butit's really you and your spouse
that are coming to theagreements.
So you're making your owndecisions, you're getting
informed and you're gettingknowledge about your options.
But it's really you guys aretalking things out directly.
(03:24):
So you're staying in control,you're more understanding of
what's happening because theyou're talking directly about
the issues.
You're not talking about courtcases from 1981 that your
attorney is referring to, or youknow code sections.
It's about hey, what do youwant to do with the house?
Let's talk that out.
Uh, you both own cards.
(03:44):
What do you want to do withthose vehicles?
What about your 401k?
So you're're really kind ofbeing presented the issues and
then you're being given theopportunity to talk those things
out and arrive at decisions.
So the control that peopleexperience is way, way different
in a mediated settlement versuslitigation.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Well, as a CDFA, I always push toward mediation,
right, because my job is towatch the money throughout the
case, and litigated divorces areso much more expensive.
I'm not talking $5,000expensive, I'm talking about
thousands and thousands andthousands more.
So I feel like if couples cancome to an agreement on their
own with a mediator such asyourself, then we're saving a
(04:26):
lot of time and money, in whichcase I have more to help them
budget with after the fact,right.
But I also feel, every time Isee a litigated case, I'm buried
in paperwork.
I'm buried in statements foryears and years to come that
actually aren't necessarilyrelevant anymore, whereas I feel
like in mediation, we canreally focus on what we need
today.
What we need, yeah, maybe atthe date of marriage, depending
(04:48):
on the length of time, but Ifeel like litigation is just
this drawn out process that Godknows when it ends, right.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
It's very formal.
You know, when you have anattorney of record, they're
responsible for the case in somany ways and they're obligated
to do things that really bring alot of formality to the
situation.
Sometimes that's good, but alot of times people kind of get
buried in it.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
And I feel like the nice thing about mediation is
you can present the options,what's supposed to happen
supposedly by a California law,but they get to decide that's
not exactly where we want toland and that's how it works on
the financial part.
I present them with what'ssupposed to happen according to
the community property division,but then I say but this is all
(05:35):
up to you.
You take this to your mediator,ideally, and decide if that's
how you want this financialsplit to be.
My job is to show a couple,when I work as a neutral, just
what it is.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
That's so incredible.
So you're getting the benefitof the knowledge of someone like
Tanya, but then you're makingyour own decisions and kind of
negotiating.
That in a way that you know hasa lot of time, you know, saves
you a lot of stress, saves you alot of money.
You know the other thing on thechild side, obviously,
parenting.
I mean you guys know, you knowpeople know their kids better
(06:10):
than a court ever will, right,or two lawyers.
And when it comes to parentingplans in court, you know you
have a very.
You go into the.
You know you're hearing withthe, with the, essentially the
mediator for child custody, andyou get like 45 minutes or an
hour and they're like checkingthe box on all these things and
(06:30):
you really almost everybodyfeels unfulfilled coming out of
that meeting.
They didn't have enough time,they couldn't explain themselves
, they didn't get across thattheir kids are, you know, would
be better off doing it this wayor that way.
And those are all the sort ofthings you do get to discuss in
mediation.
You get more time, you get tomake a plan that's more
(06:51):
customized to your kids and toeach other and people usually
end up with much moreenforceable agreements because
of that, because they made theagreements together, there's a
lot less going to court later inmediation to fight about
custody.
Because because both people hada say in how the how the plan
was created.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Nice.
My other question for you isreally my last question for
today is do you also file thepaperwork, In other words, the
complaint, the petition, theresponse, all of those?
Would you mind commenting onthat?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah, so I'm helping people arrive at the agreements
that's kind of what a mediatordoes and then I'm doing all the
court filings.
So we initiate the case, we doall the court preparation, court
filing, I draft their maritalsettlement agreements myself and
you know so I file all of that.
So basically our clients aren'tgoing to court.
(07:45):
They aren't having to worryabout.
You know how to get thingsfiled or how to fill out forms.
It's really our office is kindof taking that over for them.
The hard part is they have tocome to agreements and then we
will execute on those things forthem to make it official with
the judge.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Perfect.
Thank you so much forclarifying that.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah, thanks for being here.
Tanya as well.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
All right, have a good day.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
All right, take care.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Take care.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.