Wall Street Journal article puts divorce mediation savings at $71,000

One of the main benefits of mediation is the tremendous cost savings you can achieve.  A recent article in the Wall Street Journal stated:

“The average cost of a mediated divorce is less than $7,000. This compares with nearly $27,000 for a divorce negotiated by rival lawyers and about $78,000 for a fully litigated divorce.

That represents a potential savings of anywhere from $20,000 to $71,000 which can be put to much better use in funding your child’s college education or for a down payment on a new home.   Does this sound too good to be true?  It’s really not.  Here’s how the cost savings are acheived:

1. You are sharing one professional mediator instead of two attorney’s – Common sense will tell you it costs less to pay one person than it does two to do the same work for you.  And mediator hourly rates are traditionally lower than attorney’s hourly rates.
2. You are doing some of the work – the collection and subsequent photocopying of things such as tax returns, bank statements, pay stubs, deeds, etc. can all be more efficiently accomplished by you than a staff person at a law firm.  Why pay someone to make photocopies for you?
3. You’re working it out in real time – part of the savings comes from both of you being in a the same room, working out your differences in real-time with one professional instead of using two to communicate via telephone, e-mail, letter and fax.  Decision are made faster and more efficiently and changes can be made “on the fly” rather than having to have an attorney draft a letter and send it along with a revised copy of a document.

Interested in learning more?  Please visit the Equitable Mediation Services website for a complete copy of this article as well as lots of helpful information about divorce mediation.  Should you have any questions for us, or like to schedule a free, no obligation consultation, please feel free to contact us and we’d be glad to help.