How Do You Prepare for Mediation in a Contested Custody Case?

If your custody case is contested, mediation can still work, but you need to be organized and prepared. Talk to a Scottsdale, AZ family law lawyer as soon as you can: an experienced lawyer can help you prepare your case clearly and focus on your child’s needs.

Preparing for Mediation

Information

The first step is to gather all the info you’ll need to help yourself and the mediator get a proper picture of your family life so far. The Arizona courts decide who has legal decision-making power and parenting time with the child based on the child’s best interests, so all your documents need to support that standard while showing what you believe is the best route to accomplish it.

Some of what you’ll want to gather will include:

• Recent school records
• Report cards and teacher notes
• Individualized education plans
• Medical and dental records
• Calendars that show your daily or weekly involvement in your child’s life
• Text messages or emails that demonstrate your cooperation or, if relevant, the other parent’s lack of cooperation 

Talk to Your Family Law Lawyer About the Standard

Your lawyer will talk through with you the exact factors Arizona law uses to measure the child’s best interests. Among other things, the court is going to look at:

• Your past, present, and likely future relationship with your child
• How the child gets along with siblings and other important extended family
• The child’s adjustment to their current home, school, and community
• The mental and physical health of everyone involved
• Which parent is more likely to encourage a meaningful relationship with the other parent
• Any history of domestic violence or child abuse
• Whether either parent has misled the court or used coercion

Once you know what the courts are looking for, you and your lawyer can talk through how best to present your plan in light of these factors.

Come Up With a Plan

Sit down with your lawyer and draft at least two versions of a parenting plan. This should include a detailed schedule for weekdays, weekends, holidays, school breaks, and special occasions, and it needs to explain who will handle major decisions. Spell out how you will handle transportation, communication between the parents, and changes to the schedule, and think about backup plans for illness or other unexpected situations. Be specific but also allow some room for flexibility.

Write down your top three priorities and the three areas where you are willing to bend. This exercise forces you to separate what matters most from what you can live without. Bring printed copies of your drafts to the session so you can stay focused, and, before mediation, practice saying your points out loud in neutral language that doesn’t attack your ex-spouse.

Get Help With Your Scottsdale, AZ Case

It can be a lot to handle preparing for mediation when things are contentious, so reach out to the Law Office of Vincent Mattioli now for a free consultation. We serve clients in Scottsdale and throughout the state from our Gilbert and Casa Grande offices.

Tags: child custody, family law
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