Tempe Divorce Mediation

A Tailored Five-Step Mediation Process Our strategy for resolving disputes arising from divorce and separation in Tempe, Arizona, is designed to be both effective and sensitive, significantly lessening the emotional and financial impact.

1. Complimentary Initial Consultation Begin your mediation journey with a no-cost consultation that aims to address your questions, provides a comprehensive assessment of time and costs involved, and demonstrates the advantages of our mediation process over traditional courtroom proceedings. This initial step is foundational, setting the stage for a more harmonious and cost-effective resolution.

2. Launching the Mediation Process At this stage, our mediators introduce our efficient and respectful mediation rules and guidelines. We focus on ensuring mutual respect, full transparency of all relevant information and documents, the welfare of any children involved, and achieving a fair resolution for all issues.

3. In-Depth Exploration of Your Situation This phase involves a thorough examination of your specific circumstances, including discussions about your main concerns, desired outcomes, backgrounds in education and employment, financial situations, health conditions, and any other pertinent information. Both parties are encouraged to provide all necessary documentation and information, facilitating a resolution that is both equitable and compassionate.

4. Engagement in Mediation Dialogue During this crucial stage, you and your partner will work with our mediator in a supportive environment to address and resolve all relevant issues, such as the division of assets, allocation of debts, and arrangements for minor children, child support, and spousal maintenance. Depending on the case’s complexity and whether minor children are involved, sessions can last from 4 to 8 hours. Our mediators, with their extensive legal, psychological, and mediation knowledge, ensure productive communication, offer various resolution strategies, and provide essential legal, financial, and tax information to support informed decision-making.

5. Concluding with a Comprehensive Settlement Agreement The final step in the mediation process is the formalization of all decisions into a legally binding settlement agreement. We carefully prepare all court documents, ensuring that you and your partner can avoid court appearances. Our comprehensive approach to drafting settlement agreements and court documents is designed to address all details meticulously, securing court approval and enabling you to maintain control over the outcome, thus avoiding the need for attorney intervention or judicial oversight.

Divorce Mediation in Tempe, Arizona

Out-of-Court Solutions is the premier mediation firm in Arizona and has been providing matchless divorce mediation services to Tempe since 1995.  Our mediators use their backgrounds in law, business and psychology to help legally separating and divorcing couples establish a well-rounded understanding of their situation and all of the legal, financial, and parenting complexities involved.  Our Glendale team of mediators will guide you through the discussions and negotiations that result in a legally binding settlement while fostering an atmosphere of mutual respect and ensuring that everyone’s feelings, concerns and desired goals are heard.

About Divorce Mediation

Out-of-Court Solutions is a Tempe, AZ Divorce Mediation firm. Mediation can be an extremely beneficial activity for persons going through divorce proceedings. Lawyers benefit most from fighting for your side of the case, which can often lead to extremely adversarial divorces. Why get mired in more of the upset and emotions which led to divorcing? Isn’t it time to get your divorced finalized and get on with your life?

Oliver Ross and his team have mediated over 1500 divorces. They have dealt with situations that range from mild to almost violently contentious, and have managed to produce equitable outcomes each and every time. Don’t let your divorce lawyer take you to the cleaners. With professional mediation, you can get through divorce far quicker and with far less legal fees than would be expected from the traditional process of one lawyer vs another.

Child Custody Mediation In Divorce

Often, one of the most trying parts of a divorce is the impact it has on the children of the dissolved union. Most of the stages of the grieving process can be identified in children of divorce, and the severity of the trauma can be made exponentially worse by the fighting that can occur during the divorce. Mediation can help solve issues of child custody and parenting time in the best interests of the child. Don’t let your kid become part of a cycle of animosity with your ex – a good divorce mediator can make these issues less of a fight, and less of a negative experience for the child in the this union.

Legal Separation

Legal separation ends community property rights and obligations but preserves the marital relationship. For example, when legally separated, each spouse’s income is his or her sole and separate property, and one spouse can no longer obligate the other for any debt he or she incurs. Divorce, on the other hand, (whether in Arizona or in any other state) ends the marital relationship as well as community property rights and obligations.

Mediation of legal separation occurs in the same way and typically involves the same issues as divorce mediation. Couples work together with a professional mediator to reach agreements concerning division of assets (such as real estate, investment accounts, and retirement benefits), allocation of debts, child and/or spousal support, and parenting arrangements for minor children.

Stop Litigating, Start Mediating

It’s never too late to stop the increased hostility and substantial cost of litigating with adversarial lawyers. With his 20+ years as a professional divorce mediator and backgrounds in law and psychology, regardless of the status of your court case there is a 95% probability that our Mediator will help you completely resolve your matter quickly and expensively.

We offer a free consultation where we answer your questions, detail how our mediation process works and give you a written time and cost estimate.

Change Child Support Amount

We make it easy to change a previously ordered child support amount through our flat-fee Child Support Modification program.

• Step One: You complete our Information Form and Fee Agreement.
• Step Two: We email our easy to use Questionnaire for you and your ex-spouse to complete and return to us.
• Step Three: We prepare all required Court Documents.

Optional Mediation: If there are any disagreements between you and your ex-spouse, our Mediator facilitates settlement of them on a pro-rated hourly fee basis.

Change Custody, Child Support, Time-Sharing, and/or All Other Child-Related Matters

We make it easy to change child support, custody, time-sharing, and/or any other minor child-related matters.

• Step One: You complete our Information Form and Fee Agreement.
• Step Two: We email our easy to use Questionnaire for you and your ex-spouse to complete and return to us.
• Step Three: We prepare all required Court Documents.

Optional Mediation: If there are any disagreements between you and your ex-spouse, our Mediator facilitates settlement of them on a pro-rated hourly fee basis.

Coparenting Flat Fee Program

We make it easy for unmarried parents to resolve all custody, child support and other child-related Coparenting matters quickly and inexpensively.

• Step 1: After you complete our Intake Form and Fee Agreement, we prepare and email you and your co-parent the court documents required to begin to establish parental rights and responsibilities.
• Step Two: We email you and your co-parent our easy to use Questionnaire that you and your co-parent can complete either together or separately, and then email back to us.
• Step Three: We prepare a legally binding comprehensive Coparenting Agreement plus all required final court documents.

Oliver Ross, JD*, PhD

Kimberlee Handy, Esq.

Kimberlee Handy utilizes her backgrounds in law, psychology, and family development to help divorcing or legally separating clients mediate their differences and reach their goals quickly, caringly, and inexpensively. Kimberlee’s years of experience in mediation greatly enhances a mediating couple’s ability to effectively and efficiently divide property, allocate debts, develop a parenting plan for any minor children, and devise appropriate support amounts.

Kimberlee is dedicated to providing mediating couples with personalized and professional problem-solving options and alternatives. She will do everything possible to make clients feel valued and respected while keeping them on track towards their goals.

Kimberlee is also “Of Counsel” to Out of Court Solutions. She is responsible for keeping all of Out of Court Solutions’ mediators and staff up to date on family law and ethical matters.

Ms. Handy is a member of the State Bar of Arizona, the Maricopa County Bar Association, the Maricopa County Association of Family Mediators – Ethical Chair, and the Central Arizona Estate Planning Council. She received her Juris Doctor degree from Arizona Summit Law School (formerly Phoenix School of Law), and her Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, in Psychology with a Minor in Family and Human Development from Arizona State University.