mediation or some other form of

alternative dispute resolution is going

to be required in most any case that

happens in Oregon specifically cases

where children are involved mediation

can take a number of different formats

there’s mediation services offered by

most most counties here in Oregon to

help parents resolve issues related to

custody and parenting time one of the

benefits of that type of mediation is

that it’s offered through the court

system um free or at a nominal charge to

the parties another form of mediation

would be working with a private mediator

one of the advantages to that is that

you can work with attorneys with a

private mediator if you so choose and

that’s not an option that’s available in

the court offered mediation service the

other side of that while it can be

helpful to have an attorney present then

you would end up paying for the attorney

time as well as the mediator’s time um

on a private basis the format for

mediation

it can take a number of different

formats um but the end result or the end

goal I should say would be that the

parties are working to try to come up

with Solutions um and compromises to the

issues they’re facing in order to avoid

having to go to court it is a voluntary

process um and you cannot be forced into

um any specific type of agreement but

the goal would be reaching an agreement

outside of Court um which ultimately

enables the parties to have control what

their settlement is going to be versus

incurring the costs that will come along

with litigation and the risk that comes

with going to court where you’re never

quite sure what a judge might order