Equitable Mediation to Open Three New Locations in Bergen County
October 27, 2011 by Joseph F Dillon · Comments Off
Equitable Mediation Services announced today that it will now be serving divorce mediation clients in Bergen County, New Jersey in the towns of Paramus, Saddle Book and Hackensack, expanding the number of it’s New Jersey office locations to 12.
Managing Partner and Equitable Mediation founder Joseph Dillon said “I know I speak for everyone here at Equitable Mediation when I say that we’re pleased to be able to assist divorce mediation clients in an office location that’s convenient for them during their time of need and by expanding into Paramus, Saddle Book and Hackensack, we’re able to do just that for Bergen County couples.”
Until recently Equitable Mediation Services focused mostly on Central NJ and the lower part of Northern NJ with office locations in Bedminster, Bridgewater, East Brunswick, Iselin (Metropark), Morristown Princeton, Short Hills, Red Bank and Roseland. With the expansion into Bergen County and the towns of Paramus, Saddle Book and Hackensack, clients in those areas will still be able to obtain the benefits of mediation in NJ but in a location that’s much closer to their home. This is especially convenient for those individuals who may live in New Jersey but work in New York City which many Bergen County resident do.
“Our clients come to us from all over the state and up until recently, for those individuals who phoned us seeking mediation services in Paramus, Saddle Book or Hackensack, the best we could do was offer them a meeting in one of our other office locations which for some, wasn’t convenient. Having these three new office locations is going to make it easier on our clients in Bergen County to get the services they need from a firm they can trust. We’ve been mediating for a long time and divorce mediation is our full time profession. Using an unknown firm without Accredited Professional Mediators just isn’t something clients should want to take a chance on.”
Because the laws of the State apply to all clients who are eligible to file for divorce in New Jersey, Equitable Mediation Services is able to service clients no matter where they live. Adding three new Bergen County office locations is in line with the Equitable Mediation philosophy of reducing the stress of an already uncomfortable situation by being where the clients need divorce mediation services the most. For information on the new Equitable Mediation Services office locations, please see the addresses below.
- Paramus Divorce Mediation: 140 East Ridgewood Avenue – Paramus, New Jersey
- Saddle Brook Divorce Mediation: (the Park 80 West building)- 250 Pehle Avenue, Suite 200 – Saddle Brook, New Jersey
- Hackensack Divorce Mediation (opening winter 2012) – 401 Hackensack Avenue – Suite 200 – Hackensack, New Jersey
If you have any questions about divorce mediation in NJ or our services, please call us at (908) 864-2177.
Full Mobile Version of Equitable Mediation Services Website Now Available
October 24, 2011 by Joseph F Dillon · Comments Off
Did you know that 10% of the visitors to the Equitable Mediation Services website are using mobile devices? In order to make it even easier on our visitors, we have developed a true mobile version of our website that works seamlessly with your Android, iPhone or Blackberry device. Simply visit our regular website at www.equitablemediation.com and you’ll be automatically redirected. Or if you’re one of those folks who are smart enough to access it direct, please visit www.equitablemediation.mobi. As always, we welcome your feedback and would love to know what you think. Please call us at (908) 864-2177 with comments or questions.
Tools for Co-Parenting After Divorce
October 7, 2011 by Joseph F Dillon · Comments Off
Parenting Plans pose one of the greatest challenges to NJ divorce mediators as it is the one area in which the issues are less financial and more emotional. Issues that were challenging when you were married such as managing the children’s expenses and activity scheduling can be even more complex now that you’re divorced. Then throw the idea of two households, joint custody and shared visitation into the mix and you’ve got a recipe for communications disaster which if I’m correct communication probably wasn’t exactly your strong suit before the divorce let alone after. So what do you do when you aren’t exactly looking forward to interacting with your ex-spouse on a regular basis to discuss the children? You use technology.
For those of you unfamiliar with a little company called Google (maybe you’ve heard of them?) they offer a free online suite of tools which allows parties to create, share and edit documents online as well as manage a shared calendar that you both can have access to. What I recommend to my clients is once their Parenting Plans are in place, they each sign up for a G-mail account and create a family calendar to place all of the children’s events on. Then as part of the calendar’s function, they can each get reminders sent to them via e-mail or to their smart phone so they’ll always be in the know when their child has a school play, soccer game or birthday party to go to. It then becomes their responsibility when they have the children to check the calendar and ensure they attend the relevant academic, athletic or social event. No more “I told you Bobby had karate on Tuesday at 6pm!” angry conversations. Now it’s just set up, set reminder and away you both go.
Also helpful if you’re a finance guy like me, is the spreadsheet tool. Set one up to track extraordinary expenses related to the children and have each of you get in the habit of logging in once a week to see what expenses are being made and which ones are coming up. Like with your own fiscal life, I strongly encourage parents to think about a budget for their children’s expenses so each of you will have an idea of what monies you will need to come up with as outlined in your Parenting Plans. Nothing like getting an e-mail from an ex-spouse saying “Oh by the way I signed Susie up for violin lessons and bought her a Stradivarius so I’m going to need $12,000 for your share. Tomorrow.” Ideally you really should be able to talk as parents about your kids but if you find it difficult (even if only for a little while as you move through the pain of divorce) then using these free online resources can be a terrific way to facilitate the necessary communication to effectively execute your Parenting Plans.
If you have questions about Parenting Plans or Post-divorce Parent Coordination, please give us a call at (908) 864-2177 as were always glad to help.
