Christine Hickey, Esq.   120 East Washington Street, Suite 711, Syracuse, New York 13202   (315) 422-9756

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​CNY MEDIATION SERVICES, Inc.
Divorce Mediation, Syracuse, New York
120 East Washington Street, Suite 711
Syracuse, New York 13202
(315) 422-9756 Phone (315) 479-5651 Fax
mchickey@a-znet.com
Website by Cristin Manfredi and Content by Christine Hickey
Copyright 2016 cnymediationservices.com. All Rights Reserved

​Financial Benefits of Divorce Mediation 

Mediations Sessions are "pay as you go": 

Generally, mediation sessions are scheduled in two-hour increments. At the end of each mediation session, you will pay for the time you were together with the mediator that day.  At CNYMSI, the hourly rate is based on a sliding scale associated with your combined gross income.  The sliding scale can be found in the Mediation Agreement located in this website. 

Drafting the Legal Documents:

After you have made all the decisions and the Agreement can be written, you will be making a drafting deposit based on your hourly rate. Information about the drafting deposit can be found in the Retainer Agreement to Draft Agreement and other Legal Documents Following Mediation located in this website.  

Go at your own pace:

When you mediate the terms of your Separation Agreement, you will be scheduling appointments with the mediator based on how quickly or leisurely you would like to move through the process.  At CNYMSI, you will be paying for the mediator’s services as they are provided which allows you to spread out the costs over a time period that is comfortably affordable to you.  

Use of one neutral third party (the mediator):

Rather than having two attorneys who represent each of you to negotiate your Agreement, in mediation you will be working with one mediator to facilitate your negotiations. Instead of two clocks ticking (one for each attorney), there is only one (the mediator’s). 

CNYMSI strongly recommends that you each have an attorney who will review the proposed Agreement and advise you about its contents before it is signed. When you are consulting with your attorneys, the mediator is generally not performing any work on your behalf.

Use of Experts:

In mediation, when an expert such as a pension valuator, appraiser, business valuator, or degree valuator is necessary, mediation participants mutually agree upon the expert and hire one person to work for both of them in an impartial capacity. In this way, you can avoid hiring two experts with competing interests thereby avoiding duplicative costs.   

If mediation is not successful:

If you begin mediation and do not complete the process, you may decide to hire your own attorneys to represent you. In this case, you will have spent some money on mediation and will then incur the expense of attorneys in negotiations and/or litigation.

Fees for the divorce:

After the execution of your Agreement, if you decide to file for divorce, you will incur filing fees at the County Clerk’s Office and if you hire an attorney to file, you will incur attorney’s fees for the preparation of your divorce papers (unless you prepare them yourselves).  These services and costs are not included in the mediation process at CNYMSI and would be incurred whether or not you arrived at the terms of your Agreement in mediation.