Newlyweds often find it hard to think how they will deal with various issues, difficulties, or disagreements during their marriage, especially in the early days of their journey. But the…
Read More →I came across a nice synopsis of why mediation for your divorce may be the smartest choice. It is safe to say that most couples facing divorce expect the experience…
Read More →One of the great dynamics that we participate in at our Divorce Mediation sessions at PeaceTalks is the age-old mantra “necessity is the mother of invention.” Once we’re able to establish…
Read More →For anyone who can’t let go of that “Money=Happiness” thing, just read and be kind of glad that you don’t have so much money that God borrows from you. The divorce…
Read More →With just less than half of married partners ending in divorce, therapists over time have developed some suggestions for making the process possibly less painful for everyone. You will see…
Read More →In getting to a mutually agreeable divorce settlement we make progress, literally, by getting couples to communicate with each other. Many couples find it difficult to communicate. Our therapist mediator will…
Read More →For anyone who can’t let go of that “Money=Happiness” thing, just read and be kind of glad that you don’t have so much money that God borrows from you. The divorce…
Read More →The following was excerpted from an article in the Boston Herald by Wendy Hickey Should We Try Mediation? The answer is yes for most people. The majority of couples we see…
Read More →Here’s a couple more tips from the article I saw by Oren Kaufmann on the Mediate.com website. Don’t be penny wise and pound-foolish. Imagine the following not so unusual scenario. You…
Read More →There are a lot of commonalities with divorce and lessons from shared experiences can be extremely helpful when going through extremely stressful situations like divorce negotiations. Some great suggestions were…
Read More →I came across an article in Divorce Magazine by Susan E. Guthrie that echoed familiar misconceptions that we come across at PeaceTalks, as do many of our colleagues. Here are a…
Read More →Besides the slight “Dog Bites Man” slant to another celebrity divorce, with the wife paying alimony, I want to highlight another example of the kind of “creative agreements” that PeaceTalks encourages…
Read More →I came across an article by Jill Stanley, who covers celebrity legal stories, as to why some celebrities choose mediation for their divorce process. Using some couples from Malibu as a general…
Read More →Whether you are in or out of a divorce, the holidays are challenging enough without constant pictures of hellfire and smoky air in your eyes. It can be tough find…
Read More →There was an article in the Sunday LA Times by Ben Steverman of Bloomberg News with some very clear advice from some divorce professionals that have been doing this for…
Read More →For people screening referrals they have received to mediation services some questions are best dealt with at the very beginning of the process. Even couples that may have already made…
Read More →For anyone that is still facing the December 31 deadline for filing here’s some possible relief from some of that anxiety. A lot of people have come to Peace Talks worried,…
Read More →I get a kick out of how many people come to Peace Talks and talk about their divorce concerns and situations referencing plot lines from television shows. Being in Los Angeles…
Read More →Peace Talks, by definition, gives people the opportunity to talk about everything that is relevant to reaching an amicable agreement. This applies, as well, to all the legal advisors that come…
Read More →Recently, I’ve been encountering a lot of feedback related to people “rushing” to a divorce, before being informed, as to what needs to be done ahead of time. Here are some…
Read More →Here are a few of the questions that come up most often when people are their evaluating their options in relation to the divorce process. If you have some questions…
Read More →Divorce isn’t a failure, therapists say. In fact, it could mean the marriage was a success. The overwhelming feeling of failureis almost impossible to avoid when divorce becomes a reality.…
Read More →These two terms are being tossed around a lot as people prepare to meet the December 31st deadline for divorce related paperwork and try to avoid going to court. I’ve…
Read More →Every now and then even a “general” survey can be of use for a “specific” purpose. Dr. Grande highlights four common stress sources, from the Harris Interactive survey, for couples…
Read More →I came across this exchange with Jim Tankersley who covers economic and tax policy for The New York Times and Ailsa Chang from NPR. Jim gives a nice summary of the…
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At Peace Talks we have been doing a lot of “coaching” with the overwhelming process of divorce, from divorcing parents and premaritals as well as legal and psychological practitioners. Here’s…
Read More →by Stephanie Maloney Since I get reminded on a daily basis of why a lot of moms are finding it harder to celebrate things sometimes this seemed a bright piece…
Read More →by Stephanie Maloney Co-parenting is tough enough without having to wonder if you’re one text away from that phone call from the Highway Patrol. Nobody wants to be the cop…
Read More →by Stephanie Maloney Here it is again that time to start getting out and planning out some “away from the house” time. It seems to get tougher each year so…
Read More →by Stephanie Maloney Every family that I interact with has difficulty creating and managing their time together. By definition, Divorce creates two entities from one source. With our technology, it…
Read More →by Stephanie Maloney Imagine Frances McDormand outside your house of white with 500,000 walking, breathing, two-legged billboards demanding action about the killing of her child. Apparently, if all politics are…
Read More →by Stephanie Maloney As we finally are getting some much-needed rain I keep thinking about things, besides the social and political black holes, that are ripe for clean up. With…
Read More →by Stephanie Maloney Every year around “Tax Time” consumers, across the board, get hit with opportunities to “turn that refund into a lot of money” and this year some of…
Read More →by Stephanie Maloney The more I read about how little time people have for things they’d like to do the question remains about how to make time for things they…
Read More →by Stephanie Maloney Even if you don’t have “Olympic Fever” there are always some great moments worth watching. Because I skated competitively growing up in Minnesota I’m reminded how important teamwork is to even…
Read More →Recently Abu Dhabi broke from centuries of tradition and decided to allow non-Muslim expatriates to pursue a divorce through faith-based mediation. Though not a mirror image to western secular mediation,…
Read More →Back in June there was a news story about Richard Williams, the father of Venus & Serena, seeking to evict his estranged wife from their Florida home. A few days…
Read More →by Alison Marcelino and Stephanie Maloney As part of the Conscious Uncoupling training, we attended a lecture given by Judy Waters, MFT, discussing “Healing Breakup Trauma.” In her talk, Ms.…
Read More →You have decided your marriage is not working out. You want to divorce, but your friends have told you horror stories about dragging your divorce through the court system. You…
Read More →Congratulations! You are considering mediation as the process for resolving your divorce. In contrast to litigation, mediation is the sane, efficient and cost effective way to work through your potentially…
Read More →Uncontested Divorce in California is becoming more and more common. As more people embrace the idea of mediation, collaborative divorce, and even settling things themselves without going to court, more…
Read More →TRUTH IS IRRELEVANT All the time. Not just for mediators, and not just for ADR Services. When we think of disputes, most people think that ascertaining the truth is the…
Read More →There are huge advantages when you mediate your divorce, family law, custody, child support, alimony, spousal support or modification. If you’ve spent any time at all on our web site,…
Read More →There are 8 peace practices which are free and easy to practice every day. They’ll help you stay sane no matter what, and we all know that sanity is at…
Read More →As a family law mediator who mediates premarital agreements and prenuptial agreements, I’m often asked: What does a prenup look like? Do you have a sample? I’d love to be…
Read More →The path to uncontested divorce in California, or anywhere else, is not always an easy one. Let’s face it, the thought of divorce can be pretty upsetting, scary, sad and…
Read More →I’ve been a divorce lawyer for 22 years (youthful appearance notwithstanding!) and I’ve learned a lot about what works and what does not work when you’re getting divorced. I also…
Read More →An accountant is helping one of our clients with some of the required financial documents for the divorce. “I don’t want to ruin your strategy,” he says, “but I really…
Read More →We see a lot of grandstanding in mediation. I think a lot of clients think they’re going to get To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus Finch style attention in court. The…
Read More →For those of you who’ve found this blog, but not the Making Divorce Work blog, I actually maintain 2 blogs. This one, the Peace Talks blog, is pretty straightforward. Mostly…
Read More →At what price sanity? I’m no stranger to divorce during bad financial times. I was admitted to the bar in 1988, during a huge financial downturn. Pretty quickly after that,…
Read More →Divorce and Graphotherapy Guest blog post by Sheila Lowe, MS www.sheilalowe.com Divorce sucks. No point denying it. Whether you’ve grown to hate the person you once loved or the parting…
Read More →California has its own personality with divorce. One of only 9 states that follows Community Property law, California seems intent on doing things its own way. But a divorce in…
Read More →Shared Custody Schedules. When you’ve been married you’ve been parenting together, the idea of seeing your kids on a schedule probably seems pretty foreign. It’s a divorce and separation reality,…
Read More →In response to the recession, Peace Talks now offers a couple of new services for low cost divorce and uncontested divorce California. I hope you’ll keep us in mind if…
Read More →What Causes Divorce? You hear a lot about the reasons marriages end. Usually, fingers point to affairs or money. But marriages don’t end because of events. In 23…
Read More →Mediation Training: Family Law Here at Peace Talks we get a lot of questions about how to become a mediator. For the full story, here’s a link to the “how…
Read More →There’s often a lot of grandstanding in divorce court proceedings. A lot of people say, “I’ll see you in court!” not knowing exactly what that means. In the moment, they don’t…
Read More →Putting a price on sanity? There have been so many articles on people who aren’t getting divorced because they “can’t afford it” that it’s making me a little alarmed. The…
Read More →Divorce in California Divorce law varies state-to-state, and California has the distinction of being one of 9 states that have enacted a Community Property law. As a divorce lawyer in…
Read More →Setting Clear Boundaries Often, your marital or domestic situation does not meet the level of serious violence where you have to flee, but you are subject to consistent intimidation or…
Read More →Well, there’s really no improvements on divorce and custody litigation. But mediation is definitely a better way to go. Less costly, faster, confidential, on your schedule, tailored to your needs….the…
Read More →I know it’s an oxymoron: nobody wants a divorce, so how could one be good? But when you’re faced with divorce, you have lots of opportunties to make it less…
Read More →The TRUTH IS IRRELEVANT IN DIVORCE. I know that sounds like crazy talk. But think about it this way: When we think of disputes, most of us think that the…
Read More →Kids and Custody Do you remember being a kid? At my age it’s a little blurry, but I can tell you that adults often misunderstand how kids behave and think. …
Read More →What Causes Divorce? When thinking about how marriages end, people often look towards distinct events like affairs or money-related problems. What we’ve found in our 20+ years of experience is…
Read More →There are eight peace practices which are free and easy to stick to every day. They’ll help you stay sane no matter what, and we all know that sanity is…
Read More →I know. It’s an oxymoron–nobody wants a divorce to begin with, so how could a divorce be good? There are a lot of ways to make the best of the…
Read More →Divorce Advice I Give My Friends I’ve been a divorce attorney for 24 years (youthful appearance notwithstanding). As yo might guess, every single one of my friends (including Facebook friends)…
Read More →Choosing the right mediator is important. You’re going to be talking with your mediator about everything you care anything about in the entire world: Your future, your kids, your home, your job…..and…
Read More →You Want an Uncontested Divorce….but how do you get there? The concept of divorce mediation is relatively new, but recently it has been getting a lot more attention. Especially in…
Read More →I get asked a lot about Child Custody. It’s not surprising, since a parent’s love for their children is bigger than any financial settlement. Oftentimes, a parent feels that getting…
Read More →Here at Peace Talks, we love Mediation. If you’ve spent any time looking through our site and blog posts, you know that already. It’s an easy sell, because, to us,…
Read More →Truth is a beloved institution. It’s the cornerstone of our legal system. “The Truth of the Matter.” “The Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth.” “I Want the Truth,” says…
Read More →If you’re reading this, you’re probably not in such a good place right now. However it happens, realizing that your marriage doesn’t make you happy and that something has…
Read More →You never thought it would happen to you, yet here you are faced with divorce. Maybe you asked for the divorce. Maybe you’re the one who is being left. Even…
Read More →A Closer Look at Resolving Divorce Conflict Key 2: Understand that Acknowledging and Listening are NOT the same as Obeying You may be tempted to issue decrees as you…
Read More →A Closer Look at Resolving Divorce Conflict Key 3: Use I-Statements When you’ve spent the better part of your working life mediating and finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts, you begin…
Read More →A Closer Look at Resolving Divorce Conflict Key 4: Give the Benefit of the Doubt. It’s hard to say which of these keys to resolving conflict we like the most.…
Read More →A Divorce Mission Statement Have you thought about how you want your divorce to go? What’s your ideal resolution? Do you see a clear winner or loser? Divorce is one…
Read More →Peace of Mind Collaborative and the Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association are pleased to present a community-based series of Divorce Options
Read More →Streamlined Collaborative Practice Protocols Training June 6-8, 2013 Skirball Center Los Angeles, CA The Marina Collaborative Divorce Practice Group along with Co-Sponsor, the Southern California Mediation Association, are excited to…
Read More →My mother is dying of cancer. Yes, this is Diana Mercer, founder of Peace Talks Mediation Services, Inc., talking. She’s had cancer for 10 years but has been mercifully symptom-free.…
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