Seattle Divorce Mediator – Collaborative Attorney
Skilled Guidance for Divorce Agreements
Would you prefer making your own future life choices instead of being told what to do by a judge? Are you willing to do the work necessary to reach agreements with your partner? I help people reach amicable agreements in their divorce or separation. I work with clients who wish to commit to approach their divorce constructively by working towards negotiated resolutions with integrity and dignity. I use respectful approaches that help preserve the ability to co-parent in the future, ensure all have the information needed to make wise financial decisions, and prevent escalating conflict. I’m a Seattle divorce mediator, Collaborative lawyer, and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® with over 30 years of experience, skilled in helping clients with complex financial and parenting matters, and dedicated to helping clients and their families stay out of court and reach better outcomes.
Call (206) 622-6707 (or complete the contact form below) to learn if we might be a good fit.
Complex Property and Support Questions
Family Mediation
Parenting Plans
Child Support
Family Businesses and Divorce
Financial Analysis and Post-Divorce Planning
Mediation
Collaborative Divorce
Family LawChoose a More Respectful and Cost-Effective Divorce
Divorce can be hard enough even under the best of circumstances. Many find either Mediation or the Collaborative Divorce process to be an excellent choice for finding their way to a mutually acceptable agreement and divorce settlement by working with, and not against, each other. In Mediation or Collaborative Divorce, you have professional guidance from the very start to help you reach an agreement that satisfactorily addresses concerns, including property division, child support, spousal maintenance, and parenting. You get the skilled support you need, including the financial and parenting information needed to help you make the best possible decisions given your unique circumstances and individual priorities. Both the Collaborative Divorce process (with trained Collaborative Divorce attorneys) and Divorce Mediation (you and your spouse working in the same room with a mediator) can help provide a safe environment for discussions together, so you can make thoughtful and reality-based agreements for your post-divorce future in a civilized manner. Each of these processes offers different types of support, so you and your spouse can choose which will be best suited to help you successfully reach agreements.
Experienced and Respected as a Seattle Mediator and Divorce Lawyer
My mission is to help my clients have the best possible divorce. For over 30 years, I have helped clients address a wide range of issues with excellent outcomes. Washington Law and Politics magazine rated me among the “25 best” family law attorneys statewide and I am recognized in The Best Lawyers in America. I am the 2005 recipient of the “Attorney of the Year” award from the Washington State Bar Association Family Law Section, a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, rated “AV” (preeminent) by Martindale-Hubbell peer reviews, and have been selected annually since 2007 as a “Super Lawyer” by Washington Law and Politics magazine.
From my office in Lower Queen Anne (Uptown) near downtown Seattle and South Lake Union, I assist clients with divorce, separation, living together (cohabitation) agreements, prenuptial agreements, marital and family mediation (mediation that helps families get back on track), and mediating/facilitating matters that impact individuals and communities.
Call or email if you’d like to explore whether we’d be a good fit working together. Learn More About Mark Weiss
Mediation or Collaborative Divorce Can Be Better for Your Children
If you’re getting divorced, the best gift you can give your children is to create a healthy post-divorce co-parenting relationship with their other parent. If you can do that, your children will almost certainly do better. It’s well worth the effort to do the work to create the structures for healthy co-parenting through agreement with your co-parent. Power struggles, including court battles, tend to perpetuate conflict and undermine working together as co-parents. Research shows that acrimony between parents has serious negative effects on children. Studies show that children who have exposure to parental conflict (whether or not the parents are divorced) have a significant increased risk of substance use, promiscuity, anxiety, mental and physical health issues, and lower academic achievement. Court battles and adversarial negotiation approaches tend to inflame power struggles and expose children to parental conflict, making it much more difficult for parents to work together as co-parents—with the children paying the price. Divorce Mediation or Collaborative Divorce (with specially trained Collaborative lawyers and specialists) can provide an excellent opportunity to put the conflicts behind you and lay the foundation for good post-divorce co-parenting structures—and a better, healthier, future for your children.