To risk stating the obvious, court-ordered mediation has been ordered by the courts to help solve a divorce proceeding, particularly ones where a child custody case or parenting dispute needs to be resolved. A date will be decided for you to attend court-ordered mediation, so you are not in control of the process, the courts are. You are compelled to attend if a judge orders you to, if you don’t you face being charged with contempt of court. Once court mediation has finished, a mediator selected by the court will produce a written report explaining the case which will be handed to the judge who will then give a ruling.

In private mediation, both spouses must agree to participate and agree to use the same mediator. Cost-wise, some mediators will ask for an hourly fee, others will charge for a session at a time. Private mediation will allow couples to discuss:

All issues dealt with during mediation must remain confidential, and must not be used in a court, should the divorce have to be settled there.