Thank you for considering Nancy Caplan to manage your negotiations relating to separation, divorce, child custody, support, alimony, health insurance costs, family home, and distribution of property. With Ms. Caplan's professional guidance, most couples are able to arrive at fair, practical agreements, without wasting money on spiteful, drawn-out court battles. Choose to rebuild instead - Mediate.
Mediation. Mediation is the process by which a skilled, neutral third-party (the Mediator) manages the husband-wife direct face-to-face negotiations of issues between conflicting parties to effectuate an agreement or conciliation of their child-related, support and property disputes. In Mediation, even if the wife and husband each have lawyers to advise them on their legal rights, the parties most often negotiate without the presence of their lawyers. Together the couple make decisions about their children, personal finances and property, to come to an agreement that each person can live with. The parties themselves, through consultation with their attorneys, or other legal information sources, financial and/or mental health professionals, as needed, discuss, unravel facts and figures, negotiate and most often, work out the problems presented by a separation or divorce.
Legal Representation in Uncontested Divorces. Often couples with little property and/or without shared children are able to make agreements themselves relating to the issues of their separation and divorce. Often a person will call and say "we've agreed to everything, we just need a Separation Agreement." In that case, there is no dispute to mediate. There is no dispute to be decided in a collaborative law setting. There is no dispute to litigate in court. What now?
In this situation, it may be most cost-effective to retain a lawyer to proceed through the Separation Agreement process. A lawyer may ethically represent only one party. Therefore, if this situation applies to a couple, each party should attempt to jointly, deliberately and without threat to one another seek out independent attorneys for each party. Hopefully the parties will seek out family law attorneys who also participate in the peaceful approaches to separation and divorce, attorneys like me, who are collaboratively and mediation-trained. Choosing attorneys with similar fees and retainer requirements is another way to try to keep an "joint and equal" and less threatening feel to this difficult process. I provide such legal representation to one party in such "uncontested matters." I may either write the formal Separation and Property Settlement Agreement for submission to your spouse and/or his or her attorney, or I can review a Separation and Property Settlement Agreement drafted by your spouse's attorney. This differs from mediation in that I will represent and give legal advice to the party who is my client. While there may be certain loose ends and verification of facts, etc., generally in these cases the parties have: 1.) Fewer assets/disputes and 2.) have informally agreed to the largest issues arising from their marriage, separation and possible divorce.
It is important to note, however, in these matters, if issues become disputed giving rise to the need to file a lawsuit in court, you shall be referred to a litigation attorney for transition which may in fact increase your legal fees by duplication of efforts of two attorneys.
Mediation and Collaborative Law compared to traditional Separation and Divorce Litigation in the Court System.
If mediation is not the right choice for you, discover the option of "collaborative law". Collaborative Law, is a process in which a husband and wife, each represented by a collaborative law attorney, commit to settle all of the issues involved in dissolving their marriage, in a civilized and fair way, without the threat of emotional and finance-draining court battles. the process of decision-making by judges, through litigation in the court system, Mediation and Collaborative law processes are faster, less stressful, private, controlled and very, very often, less expensive.
All one needs to do is recall a day in court, awaiting one's turn at a traffic ticket hearing, to imagine the time lost from work and legal bills associated with utilizing the court system. However, a traffic ticket hearing is usually resolved in a day. Unfortunately, the separation and divorce process usually involves multiple trips to the court house to present evidence, witnesses and arguments to a judge who decides for the couple what will happen to their children, finances and property. Naturally the two attorneys representing a couple must bill for time travelling to and from court and waiting to be heard by the judge. Conservatively speaking, a two-hour wait/travel time, for a 10 minute court hearing simply to schedule the court timetable of a case, might cost a family four hours of legal fees.
By contrast, after four hours of mediation negotiations (costing the couple four mediation professional hours) or two hours of collaborative law negotiations (costing a couple four hours of collaborative professional fees), a couple will be well on their way to making the immediate and pressing decisions, such as which spouse will leave the family home, and how that can be done without compromising legal rights relating to children, support and property. With the pressing, immediate decisions made in a controlled way, the couple can focus on the complete, permanent resolution of the conflicts presented, privately, and as calmly as possible.
Keeping Control and Maintaining Privacy for and of Your Children, Finances and Property and Legal Fees. How do Mediation and Collaborative Law differ from agreements reached through non-collaborative, attorney-driven negotiations or decisions made by judges in a court room? Although there are many differences which are explained on this site, the key differences are the control a family maintains over each decision and step taken in the process, in a private setting. These processes give families the maximum control over what is happening to them, when and how and at what cost to their children, finances and property. Mediated or Collaborative Agreements or decisions are the product of the two human beings who entered into the relationship.
Resentment and Frustration over choices made by a judge or agreements made out of fear and not out of logic and practicality. Resentment and frustration over personal choices made for a family by a judge, or agreements negotiated by many non-collaborative lawyers driven to "win" for their clients through the use of positioning, fear-inspiring tactics, are common emotional by-products. Coming to a financial agreement, out of fear of potential "other" losses (custody threats, or the threat of financial helplessness) often produce impractical or unfair results for one party. A spouse who feels he or she has "the upper-hand" (perhaps due to the marital "fault" of the other) may quickly find that his or her "win" is short-lived. How many financial "winners" find their "loser" spouses filing for bankruptcy, losing their employment due to distress, or despairing in emotional losses over children by withdrawing from their lives? What if "the loser" spouse moves away or starts another family to replace the one he or she lost? How difficult might it become to reap the fruits of the "win"? The "winner" may find that the elation in the court house or after wrangling an overly-favorable "agreement" from a spouse through fear-mongering by the "better" lawyer(translation: more aggressive, better-connected, more experienced) is quickly deflated by the reality of the negative reactions or impact on "the loser."
In short, if the "win" causes negative reactions or impact, or is impractical for one party, who will "live with" these consequences when the ink dries on the judgement or agreement? Often the litigation lawyers will "go another round" to enforce the judge's decision or the agreement. How much more money will that cost you? Or, what if the "winner" is suddenly the "loser" on the same or unrelated issue? How will his or her spouse exact revenge or retaliation? Then what?
Common Sense. Unless you live in a bubble, the scenarios painted in the "win-lose" situation above are probably familiar stories. It has happened to someone you know, or you've seen it dramatized in a movie. These realities are not complex or far-fetched. Finding a way to resolve the conflicts between even the most rage-filled and scorned spouses simply makes common sense. Even if YOU are the spouse bent on retaliation, you know that underneath the hurt and anger, YOU will have to go on after the conflicts are decided. This "moving on" will be difficult enough without financial devastion, emotionally-traumatized children, lost jobs and homes caused by irrational decisions born from hate and revenge. Let a mediator or collaborative law attorney help you manage this process and help you help yourself. It logically follows that complying with the terms of an agreement born of self-determination and free choice is easier than being told what to do.
Serving the communities of the greater Baltimore Metropolitan Area, including:
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY - Annapolis, Crownsville, Crofton, Millersville, Severna Park, Glen Burnie, Bowie, Odenton,
BALTIMORE COUNTY - Catonsville, Towson, Lutherville, Timonium, Cockeysville, Pikesville, Owings Mills, Reisterstown, Glyndon, Sparks, Hunt Valley, Monkton, Glencoe, Randallstown, New Town, Perry Hall, Parkville, Rosedale, Dundalk, Essex, Middle River, Edgemere, White Marsh
HOWARD COUNTY - Columbia, Sykesville, Ellicott City, West Friendship
HARFORD COUNTY - Bel Air, Joppatown, Aberdeen
CARROLL COUNTY - Westminster, Taneytown, Finksburg and
BALTIMORE CITY, MARYLAND.
Coming Soon to MONTGOMERY COUNTY - Silver Spring, Rockville, Wheaton, Gaithersburg, Bethesda
Located in Baltimore County, Maryland
Logical Options available through Nancy Caplan, Esq. Nancy Caplan, an attorney since 1986 concentrating in the area of family law, is an ideal Mediator to guide your family through Separation, Divorce, Child Custody & Support.
Nancy Caplan will manage your negotiations and guide you to agree on the issues relating to your Separation, Divorce, Child Custody & Support disputes, and if requested, to put your agreements in writing.
With Nancy Caplan as your experienced family law Mediator, Mediation Participants will negotiate:
Legal Custody: Who will make major decisions, relating to health, education, and the religious upbringing of the Children? Who will decide where the children will live?
Physical Custody: Where will the Children sleep each night? What will be the Regular Schedule of the Children during the school year? The summer schedule? How will holidays be scheduled? Birthdays? What about vacations? Traveling with the Children?
Child Support: What is the income of each party? How are the Maryland Child Support Guidelines calculated? Who pays for clothing, medical care, extracurricular activities? Will there be an agreement relating to college expenses? What about the special needs of some Children like tutoring? What about transportation costs where the parents live far apart?
Health Insurance: How will we all keep our health insurance? How will the premium be paid? What about health costs not covered by insurance?
The Family Home/Paying the Bills: Where Husband and Wife and the Children live? Will one spouse stay in the Family Home? If so, for how long? How will the mortgage or rent be paid? What about the other bills of the Family Home? Are we going to sell the Family Home? Will one spouse keep the Family Home and refinance to remove the other from mortgage obligations?
Alimony/Spousal Support: Does one spouse need support? How much and for how long?
Personal Property: Furniture, cars, bank accounts, stock accounts?
Retirement Accounts: -IRA's, 401k's, Pensions and other retirement accounts?
Debts, Credit Cards: Who pays what? Will we pay off this debt when the Family Home is sold?
It just makes sense. Come in for a consultation and learn about Mediation so that you can make an informed choice. Evening and weekend hours are available. Take control by calling or emailing today, to bring you one step closer to putting it behind you as affordably and peacefully as is possible under the circumstances.
Contact our officeby email or telephone 410-296-2190 to make your initial appointment to take the first step forward.
Mediate your separation or divorce conflicts with an attorney/mediator concentrating in family law issues. Nancy S. Caplan, Esq. offers you the opportunity to learn about about all of your options in an initial orientation for prospective mediation participants or in a consultation for prospective clients seeking my representation in a collaborative process or in an uncontested situation. Stop the destruction and reconstruct your lives in a calm, practical way, with less fear and stress. Discover your options, call for an appointment today. Evening and weekend orientation and consultation hours are available. Located in the heart of Towson, Maryland.
