Mediation of Family Issues in the Greater Rochester Area
Mark Bezinque has decades of experience in the resolution of family disputes and offers mediation as another option for dispute resolution. The benefits of mediation include:
- Retention of control over the process
- Reduction of conflict
- Preservation of dignity
- Direct resolution of issues
- Confidentiality
- Significantly reduced legal fees
Role of the Mediator – A mediator is a neutral guide to conflict resolution. My approach facilitates respectful conversations about the problems, eliciting concerns, goals, facts and options to achieve lasting solutions. Assisting as a neutral party, I help develop creative and equitable settlements that are in the best interest of all parties and children.
Keeping Away from Court – Rather than battling it out in court, mediation allows the parties to commit to reaching a resolution that focuses on empowerment and support, keeping control of the result. By avoiding adversarial and conflict-focused litigation, it saves attorney’s fees and avoids courtroom battles. If you choose to litigate your divorce, you surrender control over the outcome of the proceedings to the court. Many clients are disappointed with the final result of litigation, and often realize after it is too late that they have spent more money on lawyer’s fees than the “gain” obtained from litigation. Additionally, the clients have now been compelled to show such hostility toward one another, and it may seem impossible to ever be able to communicate civilly with one another again. Mediation, on the other hand, allows couples to work together to achieve an equitable outcome while minimizing emotional distress. Divorce will always be difficult, but the pain can be minimized through a process that maintains respect and dignity.
Compared with Collaborative Law – In the collaborative law process, both parties are represented by their own attorneys in the settlement meetings. Mediation sessions generally involve the parties and the mediator. As a result, mediation can be significantly less expensive, yet retain many of the same tools of conflict resolution of the collaborative process. Individuals who are going to use mediation are strongly encouraged to hire separate legal counsel during the mediation process to answer individual questions and/or to review the terms of the agreement prepared by the mediator.
