Why Mediate? Reason #2
Sep 30th, 2008 by admin
First, to review: Reason # 1 to mediate is that it gives YOU control over the process and the outcome.
Reason # 2 to mediate is that it keeps your private life private. Whether you need to reach a short-term agreement, or whether you’re working out your long-term property split, mediation offers you the opportunity to keep your negotiations private.
If you were to use the court system, any documents you file (except for those that are “sealed” because of the personal identifiers they contain) would be open for anyone to read. That means that, if you or your spouse makes negative allegations about the other person, they are out there for the whole world to read. It also means that a random stranger could sit in on your court date and hear everything that you say to the judge.
It’s important to be able to get everything out in a negotiation process, and mediation allows you an opportunity to do that and to keep the things you say private. In fact, Washington law keeps the things said during mediation confidential, expect in specific instances. (You can find them here.) Those instances are where there is a threat or statement to inflict bodily injury or commit a crime; where a mediation session may be intentionally used to plan a crime; where there is an allegation of professional misconduct filed against the mediator and so information needs to come out to address that; where there is an allegation of misconduct by a professional or mediation party and information needs to come out to address that; or where there is an indication of abuse of a child or vulnerable adult.