Breaking up does not mean having to go broke - Family Mediation can help

When couples with significant assets decide to separate, it can become a costly and protracted proceeding. But high net worth couples are not average, they have many unique issues that take more time to resolve, and their legal fees are often much higher.

With so much property and assets at stake, there is the potential for a long and drawn out court battle. And before everything is said and done, you could find that a substantial portion of your net worth is eaten up in legal fees. It doesn't have to be this way, however.

There are better alternatives these days for high net worth couples, and family mediation is an increasingly preferred method. Through mediation, a couple can resolve all of their issues outside of court. This is not to say that there are no issues along the way, it is just that the couple chooses to work them out on their own with the help and guidance of a professional, third-party family mediator.

Mediation is a cooperative approach that can be done in a live setting or virtually, whatever the couple are most comfortable with. The mediator is there to facilitate the discussion and guide the conversation toward a civil and workable resolution.

All in all, the mediation process can be completed in as soon as a couple of months or maybe a little longer, depending on the complexity of the situation and the time it takes to resolve everything. Either way, this is significantly less time than it would take to go through traditional divorce litigation.

How High Net Worth Couples Can Benefit from Family Mediation

It can save thousands of pounds in legal costs and the participants can complete their settlement in a fraction of the time it would take for the process to go through court. These are not the only benefits of mediation, however. There are several others as well, including:

• Cooperative Environment: Because family mediation is done in a collaborative setting, there is a greater likelihood of reaching a satisfactory agreement. The process also allows you to avoid what could be a highly contentious court battle with the potential to foster lasting bitterness between the participants. The ability to preserve delicate family relationships is especially important if there are children involved.

• Confidential Process: Mediation sessions are held confidentially, and nothing that is discussed ever becomes part of the public court record. This allows participants to speak more freely knowing their words will not be held against them later on.

• Flexible Settlements: During mediation, you can spend as much time as you need to on the issues that matter most, and you both have the freedom and flexibility to get creative and come up with win-win resolutions that work for everyone.

• More Control over the Process: At the end of the day, the participants are the ones who must agree to any settlement that is produced during mediation. The process is entirely voluntary, and nothing can be imposed on either of the participants against their will. This gives the participants a large amount of control over the process, and it also makes it more likely that they will take ownership of what is agreed to and follow through on all of their obligations.