Mary and Bruce a Mediation Case Study

After attending an Early Neutral Consultation with Divorce the Smartway. Mary a 44-year-old School Teacher and Bruce, 46-year-old Plumber, realized they were not as conflicted as they had thought. They both agreed mediation was the best fit for them, if only for the sake of their children – 14-year-old Madison and 17-year old Mackenzie. Mary and Bruce experienced the devastating effect of Mary’s sister’s acrimonious divorce two years earlier.

After we accepted our relationship was over, we believed we had to have the courage to try an alternative to lawyers for our financial and emotional well being. “All of us were emotionally drained by my sister’s divorce” says Mary. “It was a long drawn out legal affair with seemingly endless court proceedings, spiteful behaviour, sniping, traumatized children and a large legal bill at the end of it all. We’re a tight-knit family. Regrettably, my sister’s separation created enormous divides within the extended family.

“I was in a real mess, to begin with” acknowledges Bruce, “but I stuck with it. I was so relieved when we came to terms around the future of the children. I wouldn’t have believed in mediation we could resolve so much in such a short time.” They also found a way to agree that both would be able to spend good quality time with Madison and Mackenzie.

After a short series of mediation sessions, Mary and Bruce made agreements about family finances, which included a deferred sale of their three-bedroomed Aurora matrimonial home until Madison left high school. They agreed to activate their modest savings to help carry matrimonial home until it was sold.

“Ken was so calm and professional,” added Bruce. “It seemed to us like there was so much to sort out. Ken is a divorce financial specialist; he developed a few options for us to sort out our finances. We took comfort knowing we made informed decisions about our debts and pensions.

Ken went so far as to develop a settlement structure that allows us the maximum of tax credits and deductions while keeping us in good standing with Canada Revenue Agency.

“Most importantly Ken helped us come to an agreement about our children’s future, and the kids seem much happier now they have accepted life has changed, but mum and dad are still both there for them.”

This is a real case study, though names have been changed to protect identities