Mediation
I, attorney John P. Vespa, am fully certified in the field of Family Mediation, having completed the extensive training program at Bradley University. I have practiced law in the area of Family Law/Divorce for the last sixteen years. I am well aware of the various issues that confront people who are either going through a divorce or are simply having difficulty in their relationship and wish to address their situation before it reaches the point of separating and/or divorcing.In some cases, people choose to use the judicial system and have the Judge make all of the decisions. However, for those people who would like to make the decisions themselves, but have not been able to reach agreements on everything, we have a process that is called "mediation".
Mediation is a problem-solving process that involves communication between the participants, with the assistance of a neutral, third party – the Mediator. The Mediator assists the parties in understanding both their own needs and the needs of the other party and, through this process, agreements are reached. As your Mediator, I do not make decisions regarding your disputes. I merely assist you in making your own decisions.
Believe me, it is always better to have to follow an agreement you reached than having to follow a Judge's order. In the mediation process, you are the one who makes the decisions, not a Judge who can not possibly have the same grasp of your situation as you do. This is why we have mediation - to allow the parties the opportunity to solve their problems themselves, with assistance from a trained professional who is totally neutral.
I will not report the mediation results to a Judge. I also will not testify in court. These last two facts help ensure free-flowing communication.
Research has shown that mediation is much less expensive than litigating your disputes in court. Also, a mediated agreement reduces the probability of future disagreements and future litigation. Through mediation, you can learn to cooperate better and can lay the foundation for future agreeable decision-making.
Mediation services are billed at the rate of $100.00 per hour, with a retainer of $500.00 due at least forty-eight hours prior to the start of the first session. If this retainer becomes depleted, an additional retainer shall be required to continue the mediation sessions uninterrupted. Any unused portion of the retainer(s) will be refunded.
For more information, please feel free to contact me.