How much does mediation cost?
Just about every time someone contacts me for mediation, their first question is “how much will it cost?”.
Well, to start, there’s the obvious – time and money.
How much money and time you need to spend will depend on which mediator you choose.
Time
It costs you as much or as little time as you’re prepared to put into it. And how that works might surprise you. In real estate, there’s a saying ‘position, position, position’. In mediation, the catch cry is ‘preparation, preparation, preparation’. By far, the greatest cost of mediation is time.
In order for mediation to proceed Co-Parenting for Your Kids focus on making sure you’re fully prepared for mediation day. This means we will support you to figure out which issues are important to you. More than that though, we’ll spend time with you so you can figure out WHY they are important.
Part of preparing for mediation involves making sure you are aware of your options if mediation isn’t successful. This might mean speaking with a lawyer, or it might mean you need to figure out your limits. Sometimes this might mean you have a range for what outcome is acceptable.
Mediation isn’t about everybody getting what they want.
It’s about coming to agreements that you can live with.
The last step in the preparation session is to work through some tools to improve your negotiation skills. Given you’re seeking specialist support to reach agreement with your ex-partner, things are clearly not going too well. We’ll give you some new skills (or remind you of forgotten skills) to be able to co-parent more efficiently in the future.
Fees
Depending on which mediation service you choose, will depend on how much money you need to spend. Family Relationship Centres (FRC) receive Federal Government Funding and are therefore able to offer free or very low cost mediation services. Some centres are limited to mediating only on issues relating to children, while others can support you to finalise your property settlement as well. The downside to choosing mediation through an FRC is that the services are in high demand and have very long wait times. Sometimes you can wait up to 3 months before being able to have your first meeting. If you decide you don’t want to wait, you can choose a Private Mediator.
Some private mediators charge by the hour, others have package prices. Co-Parenting for Your Kids offer fixed fee mediation. When the fees are due is an important consideration. All mediators require a payment to secure the mediation date and full payment prior to beginning mediation. Co-Parenting for Your Kids also enable you to spread the payments out over time before mediation day. Your intake meeting is $175 and mediation is only $895 per person.
How much mediation costs is but one thing to consider when choosing a mediator. Remember this though, you really only have two choices – continue on with how things are, or take the steps to start making things different.
Mediation is an opportunity – are you going to make the most of it?
