Montclair Attorney Mediates Divorce Issues

Ms. Cerruti will provide reliable cost-effective representation

Ms. Cerruti was an accountant before she was an attorney and is an expert in this specific area.

• Custody
• Parenting time
• Child Support
• Alimony
• Division of Assets and Debts.

When couples voluntarily seek mediation or collaboration, they avoid the expense of court cost and attorney’s fees involved with traditional divorce litigation.  By working together, couples can create meaningful outcomes that meet their unique situation and needs.  Pamela M. Cerruti uses her experience as a mediator and a practicing family lawyer to help clients find places where both parties mutually agree. She works from there to develop creative solutions through the “outside the box thinking” that she has. Settling divorce and family law issues does not have to involve a courtroom battle.  If you are interested in amicable divorce resolution or an uncontested divorce, we can help

Mediation of ancillary issues can lead to a settlement agreement

The best way to negotiate a settlement agreement involving ancillary issues and present them to the court for approval is mediation. Even if you don’t achieve a complete settlement, you can settle most issues and hold the remaining points over for further negotiation. When traditional negotiations fail to resolve disputes over custody, support or property division, many couples go to mediation. Mediation has proven so useful that several states have enacted mandatory mediation before the court will schedule a hearing. In New Jersey where mediation is not automatic, a judge may order mediation before placing the case on the court calendar. Ms. Cerruti does not think it is valuable to mediate cases that have a final domestic violence restraining order or in cases where one party feels that they are significantly intimidated by the other party

How divorce mediation works

Forms of mediation differ slightly. Usually it involves an impartial third party, the mediator who meets with the clients to work out a voluntary agreement. Over the course of several sessions, the mediator listens to the spouses, assesses the issues before them, and guides them toward a mutually acceptable resolution. However, the mediator cannot impose an agreement on the couple. If mediation fails, unresolved issues will have to be resolved through other means.

Divorce mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution that can save couples time, money and emotional strife when going through a divorce.  Rather than use the court to resolve your issues, a neutral person such as Ms. Cerruti will guide you as a couple in reaching agreements that has everyone’s interests in mind.  Attorney Pamela M. Cerruti is a matrimonial and family law attorney as well as a trained family law mediator and trained collaborative lawyer.  She has conducted countless divorce and family law mediations since 1991.  At our law firm, we represent married couples and same sex couples who are ending their relationships. we walk clients through the five parameters of divorce and separation.

To avoid the pitfalls of mediation, speak to a qualified divorce attorney

Before you consider mediation, you should speak with an attorney with experience in this process. Mediators are not allowed to dispense legal advice, and, in fact, many divorce mediators are not family attorneys, so they might not fully understand the legal implications of a proposed settlement. Pamela M. Cerruti, Counsellor at Law Counselor at Law at many times is called to help couples who are already in mediation and to help them as a “coach” to prepare them for their mediation session, review their progress, and scrutinize their agreements and to help make sure their rights are protected.

Montclair Collaborative  Lawyer Encourage Cooperation

Our New Jersey family law attorneys help you avoid litigation

A growing trend in family law, collaborative divorce allows couples to work through a non-confrontational, non-adversarial process to reach the best result for themselves and their children. At Pamela M. Cerruti, Counsellor at Law, we help New Jersey clients achieve lasting and amicable settlements through the collaborative process. We are ready to help you dissolve your marriage in a manner that will save time, stress and expense.

A cooperative process

In collaborative divorce each spouse hires a collaborative attorney and the four work together to reach the best arrangement for the future.  The circumstance may also request the need for a psychological expert or a financial expert, who are also trained in collaborative law to help with the process . Issues involve

• Child custody and visitation rights
• Child support
• Asset distribution
• Marital debt division
• Sale or possession of the marital home
• Spousal support and temporary support

However, rather than resolving conflicts  in court, the couple and their attorneys privately work in a manner that reduces stress and anxiety and moves quickly toward resolution.

The potential benefits

The advantages of collaborative divorce are many:

• Additional privacy – Since the agreement is worked out in private rather than in court, personal information is held in confidence and there is much less of a public record.
• Time savings – The collaborative process goes much more quickly than one that involves scheduled court appearances and formal discovery.
• Cost savings – Attorney fees are lower because of the reduced time factor.
• Less emotional turmoil – The act of dealing with your former spouse in a cooperative manner means that you do not face as much stress.

If the collaborative process doesn’t work for you, you can easily transition to a traditional divorce. You and your spouse will hire new attorneys, so none of the private matters discussed in the collaborative meetings can be used in the adversarial process.

For collaborative divorce to succeed, an atmosphere of trust must exist. This is not possible in marriages where there has been domestic violence or emotional abuse. Such divorces are better suited to the adversarial process of the court.

Contact a reliable New Jersey Divorce Mediation/Collaborative attorney

If you believe the collaborative divorce process could work for you, call Pamela M. Cerruti, Counsellor at Law at 973-746-5590 or contact us online to schedule a consultation. We’ll give you all the information you need to move forward to a more hopeful future.