- Getting Started
- The Detente Process
- What does a marriage/family counselor do in mediation?
- What is interest based negotiation? How is it different from positional bargaining?
- Does a Detente mediator make a binding decision for us?
- How does it work with neutral experts? Where do you find them?
- What happens if we can't reach agreement in Detente Mediation?
- What kind of information do we exchange? Who decides what is "relevant" and what happens if there is a disagreement about that?
- Resources
Personal Settlements

In Détente Mediation you can hire neutral experts at a shared cost to help you resolve family law divorce or conservatorship (child custody, possession, and parenting plan) disputes. Neutrals are not required but can be very useful. The idea of the neutral expert in a family law divorce or conservatorship (child custody, possession, and parenting plan) dispute is to give you an objective opinion on a particular issue that requires the analysis and review of a person with a higher level of skill, education, or expertise than the parties have.
For example, a divorcing couple or parents with a special needs child may bring in a consulting child specialist with knowledge of the child's particular disability such as autism, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, Downs Syndrome, and other learning disabilities or emotional problems to help them understand what conservatorship (child custody, possession, and parenting plan) would be in the child's best interest. Divorcing couples frequently benefit from the services of a family law divorce financial planner who can assist in organizing the assets and debts, retirement IRA, 401K, and pension accounts, etc., and developing strategies for their fair division. There are many tax considerations in divorce and a CPA or tax attorney can be invaluable in preventing surprise tax liabilities down the road from poor planning in the divorce stages.
In contrast, litigation experts are hired individually by a party's family lawyer to defend that party's position and usually to place blame on the other. They are typically very expensive.
The Détente mediator will gladly provide you references to the experienced, unbiased divorce financial, tax, real estate, mortgage, and business valuation professionals, as well as conservatorship (child custody, possession, and parenting plan) child specialists in our resource network.

