Mediation Confidentiality: what is all the hoopla?
Hoopla is derived from the French “Houp-la” which is a sound akin to “whoopsi-daisy!” when you are swinging around a child. It now is used to describe a over-sensationalist response to something average, a much ado about nothing.
Anyway, back to the law. If you have been looking around for mediators, you may have noticed you are inundated with lots of forms which have “waivers”, and “disclosures”. Most of them deal with confidentiality.
January is divorce month. As soon as the new year bell tolls, people dig into determined changes for the year. Since I became a family lawyer in 2000, I have been interviewed every beginning of the year about the subject of marriage and money.
In January 2011, I was interviewed by NPR Marketplace in a segment called, “Financially Preparing for a Divorce”. The segment focused a LOT on premarital agreements. You can read the transcript for this show and listen to it by clicking here.
Here is my little clip on Inside Edition.
Jeff Bezos, World’s Richest Man, Announces Divorce
Being rich doesn’t save you from being cliche. Jeff Bezos, after 25 years of marriage to Mackenzie, announces his split in January (divorce month), on social media (Twitter).
“After a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends,” he tweets. “We feel incredibly lucky to have found each other and deeply grateful for every one of the years we have been married to each other.
Yes, this is a mediation post. No, it’s not just for us “mediators”. It applies to ALL attorneys whose clients eventually go into mediation to resolve a case (in family law, this is like 99% of you!!!)
Starting January 1, 2019, California law imposes on attorneys representing a client participating in a mediation, or an attorney-mediator the duty to disclose the ramifications of confidentiality and protections of communications in mediation.
The new law is Evidence Code 1129.
Divorce mediation: because no one wins in Divorce.
Family law is the area of law that governs the issues arising from the end of relationships.
There is no sugarcoating divorce: It sucks, and there are no winners. I hear these phrases a lot in my practice: “It’s not fair, it’s not my fault!” “Why does he get half of the house?” “Why should I share the children when she’s the one who cheated on me?” “What do I get out of this divorce?”
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