FOR MINISTER
FOR MINISTER
FOR MINISTER
What We Do
Christianity and Divorce
Why we are different
We work for the couple as opposed to a typical divorce attorney and the secular court process
of "him vs her" or "her vs him"
Process Characteristics:
Christian Divorce Services vs Secular Divorce Court
Parameter | Christian Divorce Services | Secular Courts |
|---|---|---|
Understanding of issues | Arbitrator/ Mediator Prays for discernment and wisdom while applying the law and deciding your case | Judge relies simply on the law. |
Decision Maker | Christian | Likely not a Christian |
Oath | Swear to God to tell the truth | Swear to tell the truth |
Privacy | Contents of your case, including financials, are sealed and private | Contents of your case, including financials, are part of the public record and can be read by anyone |
Speed | Process takes 1 to 3 months | Process takes 1 to 3 years |
Support | Full counseling and support services | No support services |
Control | You control the outcome of all mediated settlements | A secular judge imposes a decision on you, thus removing your control. |
Cost | Rarely more than $1,500 per person | It is not unusual for legal fees to run as high as $20-$40,000 per spouse. |
Cooperation | Mediation is a collaborative process where the parties achieve a mutual satisfactory settlement | Antagonistic and highly adversarial process that can destroy relationships within divorcing families and churches |
Prayer | Prayer warrior team to pray for you and your loved ones during and after the divorce | NONE |
Follow up | Christian support groups and therapy | NONE |
Even the Secular World Understands Mediation Is a Better Way
"Traditional litigation is a mistake that must be corrected... For some disputes trials will be the only means, but for many claims trials by adversarial contest must in time go the way of the ancient trial by battle and blood. Our system is too costly, too painful, too destructive, too inefficient for really civilized people."
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, (Ret.) U.S. Supreme Court
Concepts of maximization (of results) are realistically absent in the adjudicatory (court) context. Adjudication is not, after all, focused upon determining truth and fairly applying the law. Adjudication is win/lose by nature. Competitive adjudicatory assumptions and behaviors are at odds with people being at their problem-solving best and finding most capable and satisfying solutions.
Maximizing Mediation
James Melamed January 1999
“Mediation is a valuable tool because it offers the parties a real opportunity to discuss all of their concerns, even if not legally relevant, and to reach a settlement that better suits their needs and will be more satisfactory than a decision imposed by the Court.”
Franklin County Municipal Court Annual Report 2005
Mediation provides positive outcomes for both the Court and citizens: the Court avoids a number of potential trials, the parties solve their differences privately and inexpensively.
Franklin County Municipal Court Annual Report 2005
What Does The Supreme Court of Ohio View as the Advantages to Mediation?
• Parties have increased control over the process and the outcome.
• Personal involvement of parties: Through direct contact with other parties, individuals are able to hear and understand the other side's point of view.
• Confidentiality
• Less adversarial and hostile process
• May decrease litigation time, thus saving the parties additional expense
• Creative resolutions
• Allows the parties to assess the strengths and weaknesses of both sides of the case
• Agreements conclude the dispute at the Supreme Court of Ohio, as well as in other legal forums
Supreme Court of Ohio , Mediation FAQs
Mediation allows the parties to collaborate on a satisfactory solution to their problem, removes cases from this Court's docket, and often removes cases from other court dockets.
Supreme Court of Ohio , Success Stories
For more than 220 years, the American system of justice has been a place for the peaceful resolution of disputes. It is fundamentally an adversary system, which has served us well. But many disputes are better resolved through processes that are not adversary and that enable disputing parties to resolve their own disputes. In a creative attempt to meet citizens' needs in their system of justice, the courts increasingly offer mediation and other dispute resolution processes, not just trials and appeals, to help people find satisfactory ways to end their disputes. The best of the next generation of lawyers will be adept in their use of negotiation, mediation, and other processes to help their clients settle disagreements.
Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer
Supreme Court of Ohio
1964 Graduate of The Ohio State University
Moritz College of Law
The emerging field of alternative dispute resolution, (is) a method which brings together parties and avoids the time and expense of trial…Demand for lawyers with dispute resolution expertise has grown steadily over the last decade. The use of dispute resolution processes increasingly is part of the practice of law.
Michael E. Moritz College of Law
The Ohio State University
(In court litigation) Disputants commonly have a hard time even sitting in the same room with one another much less directly engaging in maximized problem-solving. Disputants are commonly distracted by their emotion and righteousness and the perceived need to immediately respond. And so we arrive at the proposition that, if maximization (of outcomes) is to happen in dispute resolution, it will perhaps only and best happen through mediation.
Maximizing Mediation
James Melamed January 1999