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 a description of “Divorce Coaching” from the American Bar Association: “Divorce coaching is a flexible, goal-oriented process designed to support, motivate, and guide people going…
Read More →In California, there are three ways to end a marriage: divorce, legal separation, and annulment. At Peace Talks we want you to know your options and we will focus on legal separation in this article. The process for a legal separation is similar to filing for a divorce, but there are some distinct considerations 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 difficult issues and preserve your family relationships. At Peace Talks, we use the “Team Mediation” approach and we want to share with you why this…
Read More →While California may be a “hot” state, we experience “cooling off” periods too. In a family law context, this “cooling off” specifically applies to the amount of time that must pass before a divorce is final. The theory behind this “cooling off” period is to prevent couples from rushing to divorce. In California, the law…
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 key to the resolution of a disagreement. Find the truth, and you have the resolution to the conflict. Yet how many of us see “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, you already know how passionate we are about mediation and its benefits. We saw a new couple this week for mediation. They’d already spent about…
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 everything in between. So sometimes divorces start with a bang–intimidating court paperwork which is sometimes served on the other party (who may be unsuspecting) in…
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 got divorced myself. That was a big lesson, too. Thankfully it was on the “what works” list as opposed to the “what doesn’t work” list.…
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 sad truth is, however, that if you get 10 minutes you’re lucky. I know you don’t believe me. Nobody does until they actually spend 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 mediation and legal information and advice, in a sort of op-ed type format. The 2nd blog is much more personal. I’ve found that as a…
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, there was a huge mortgage meltdown, sort of like what’s happening now, and everyone’s house was upside down (they owed more than it was worth).…
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 is amicable, when it comes to ending it all, you still have to grieve for the hopes and dreams you once shared. It’s stressful, it’s…
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 you come across couples needing either of the following, or if you need these kinds of services yourself: 1) $995 paperwork only service: for couples…
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 like what they’re hearing, whether it’s in mediation or around the kitchen table, so they say, I’m done with this!” not realizing that saying “no”…
Read More →Causes of Divorce “Seriously? You want to end this? You want a divorce? I mean, I know we’ve had problems. I’ve tried to change. I’ll be better. Is this really what you want to do?” If you’ve said those words or heard those words, it can be crushing either way you look at it. Divorce…
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 truth is the key to the resolution of any disagreement. Get to the truth, and you have the resolution to the conflict. Yet, despite the…
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, it’s a no-brainer. Just look at a recent example: one couple came into our Los Angeles office looking to get a divorce settlement through mediation. …
Read More →I have a 25 hour beginning family law mediation course on DVD which I sell on my web site and Amazon.com. As a result, I get questions about how to mediate from some of the “students” of this taped course. One in particular, a lawyer up north, is my new pen pal of sorts. I’m…
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