Mediation is the part of family law where the two people who know the most about the situation get to decide it, instead of a judge who is meeting them for the first time.
A contested hearing compresses a family into an afternoon of testimony. The judge is careful and experienced and still has to rule on a fraction of what is actually true, because that is all the format allows. Mediation is slower in the room and faster overall, and it produces terms the parties chose, and that is usually why those terms survive contact with real life.
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A mediator does not represent either party, does not decide anything, and does not tell anyone what a court would do. The job is to run a process in which two people who are not currently able to negotiate directly can arrive at something they can both live with, and then to write it down clearly enough that it works.
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Pam Hermes practices in family law and family law mediation. She completed Minnesota mediation and arbitration training in 1994, Indiana domestic relations mediation training in 2012, and Indiana guardian ad litem training in 2015, and she is a member of the Indiana Association of Mediators. She has also been a guest lecturer at the University of North Dakota Law School and at the State Judicial Institute.
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Parenting time and the practical calendar around it, decision making, support arrangements, dividing property and debt, and the house, very often the whole argument wearing a different costume. Because this firm also handles real estate and estates, the property questions do not have to be handed to somebody else.
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Mediation depends on both parties being able to speak freely and safely. Where that is not true, or where one party will not engage in good faith, it is not the right process, and saying so early is more useful than discovering it in hour three.
The same order every time, because most of the expensive mistakes in this area come from doing step four before step two.
Who is coming, what is genuinely in dispute, and what information both sides need before any of it can be discussed.
One at a time, in an order that builds agreement instead of opening with the hardest question in the room.
Whether the terms survive a Tuesday in February, once the goodwill in the room has worn off.
A written agreement, clear enough that it does not need reinterpreting the first time somebody's schedule changes.
No. A mediator is neutral and represents neither party. Each party may have their own attorney, and many do.
No. Partial agreements are common and useful. Narrowing five issues down to one is a real result, and it changes what is left for a court to do.
Mediation frequently happens after a case is filed, and Indiana courts commonly refer family matters to it. It is not an alternative to the process so much as a stage within it.
That is usually agreed between the parties or addressed by the court. Ask on the first call how it works in your situation.
Mediation is conducted as a confidential process, which is what makes it possible to explore an option without it being treated as a concession. The specifics are worth going through before you start.
Estate planning is deciding who receives what, who decides for you if you cannot, and how much of it has to pass through a courtroom. Most of it is simpler than people fear.
Probate is administration, not conflict, most of the time. Somebody has to be authorised to act, the assets have to be gathered, the debts have to be dealt with, and the rest has to reach the right people.
Most people meet a real estate attorney once, holding a contract on the largest purchase of their life, with no particular reason to trust anybody else in the room.
The rest of the practice is on the practice areas index. If you would rather judge the firm by who trusts it than by how it describes itself, look at who it works for or at who would actually be handling this.
Call 765-423-1001 to schedule an appointment, or send the details through. Bring the contract, the deed, or just the question.
Contacting Gambs, Mucker & Bauman does not create an attorney-client relationship, and nothing on this site is legal advice. Please do not send confidential information until a written engagement is in place.