Beaverton Divorce Mediation Sessions

Once you complete your consultation and agree to proceed with Matthew as your mediator, you will complete intake information and participate in two to four mediation sessions.

The number of sessions is based on the complexity of the case and whether you have minor children.

Matthew always seeks to keep your preparation as simple as possible.

The information he will request from you will be what is necessary for him to do a thorough job facilitating your mediation sessions and writing the Marital Settlement Agreement and Supplemental Agreements that will result from a successful mediation process.

The intake process has two components.

The first is the intake file itself. It is a protected file that you will be able to access once you commit to mediation with Matthew.

The file, which is user-friendly, will ask that you provide information about your family, ediucation, earnings, assets, debts, life insurance, and budgets.

The second component of the intake process is discovery.

In legal parlance, discovery is the term for the exchanging of information between parties in a dispute or legal case.

In mediation, discovery is less voluminous than in a contested or litigated case.

However, even though parties in mediation are on civil terms and usually don't seek to be aggressive, there are practical reasons for a responsible discovery process.

Intake File to Prepare for Divorce Mediation

After a consultation, your next meeting with Matthew will be your first divorce mediation session.

A mediation session is a two-hour meeting that includes only Matthew and the two parties. Attorneys are not present for Matthew's mediation sessions.

You may meet in person or via Zoom.

If you meet via Zoom:

You may be in the same room on the same device, or you may be in separate locations with separate devices.
In either case, you should be where you can have a private and uninterrupted discussion.
You should ensure that your children are not present nearby.

If you wish to meet in person:

The session will be held in Matthew's Central Beaverton office at BG Plaza (Suite 271). The location information is here.
The office setting is a living-room setup with chairs and a sofa.
If you prefer a conference room with a table, Matthew can reserve the conference room downstairs.
If you use a mobility device or if getting in and out of a large chair would be difficult, please let Matthew know in advance so that the conference room can be reserved.

For either format (Zoom or in person):

The session will not be video recorded. Matthew may audio-record the session with a note-taking app for purposes of accuracy unless you do not approve. Matthew will delete the recording after the app's summary is generated.
You are welcome to take notes during the session, but please do not record it.
Mediation discussions are confidential by law, and nothing produced in mediation can later be used by one party against the other in a court proceeding.
Both parties are entitled to the peace of mind that the other is not recording the session.
Both parties should feel free to voice concerns and express ideas without being held to their words in the future (except as agreed in writing in the Marital Settlement Agreement).

Conference Room, Office, or via Zoom

In Oregon, child support has two definitions.

Most commonly, it is money paid monthly by one parent to the other parent to provide for an equitable sharing of the expenses of raising the minor child(ren).

There are several factors that determine child support for minor children.

The factors that most directly affect the calculation are each parent's respective income from all sources and the amount of parenting time.

Parenting time is usually calculated as a number of overnights per year that the children have with each parent.

Child support can also be paid for the support of an adult child (18 to 20 years of age) who is attending postsecondary education as defined by the Oregon Revised Statutes.

If child support is owed for the support of an adult child attending school, it is paid directly to the adult child.

In mediation, the parents and the adult child(ren) usually agree in writing that the payment will be made directly to the academic institution or to pay other expenses on the adult child's behalf.

Depending on the complexity of the case and the needs of the adults and children, a full session may devoted to the child support discussion, or it may be a partial session shared with other topics such as parenting time or asset division. Before that discussion, you will have provided Matthew with your income, budget, cost of child care, union dues, cost of health insurance premiums, and other data.

In every case, the Oregon Child Support Guidelines Calculator worksheet must be completed. Matthew will do that for you with the information you provide.

The worksheet will yield a guideline calculation for child support that is presumed to be correct. If you agree, you may deviate from it and settle on a different amount, or none at all.

Matthew will include documentation in your Marital Settlement Agreement as to whether you chose to deviate from the guidelines or whether you accepted the guideline calculation as presumed.

There are numerous expenses that Matthew's clients consider important for their children that may fall outside the definition of "needs."

For such expenses, it is customary to discuss in mediation how you will share those expenses.

If you come to an agreement on those non-essential expenses, as most people succeed in doing, Matthew will include the details in your Marital Settlement Agreement.

Sessions Concerning Child Support

Spousal support is appropriate in some cases but not all.

The terms of spousal support, if any will be paid, must be negotiated and mutually acceptable to the parties before it can be included in your Marital Settlement Agreement.

Depending on the complexity of the case and the level of detail that the assets and debts require, spousal support will be discussed either in its own session or as part of the discussion of assets and debts.

In advance, you will have provided information in your intake file concerning your work history and earnings history.

You will also provide, before the session, each adult's respective individual budget and a shared budget for the expenses that are specific to the children's needs.

Using all of the information you provide, Matthew will facilitate a respectful discussion about the amount and duration of spousal support.

Once there is an agreement as to those questions, or a mutual decision not to exchange spousal support, Matthew will place the details into your Marital Settlement Agreement.

It's important to understand that the Marital Settlement Agreement must address whether or not there will be spousal support in the case.

Whether or not there will be a spousal support award in your case, Matthew will need to include a brief explanation to convey to the court why you have chosen to include or forgo spousal support.

Therefore, even if you have agreed in advance on the terms of spousal support -- or that there should be none -- Matthew will need to have at least a brief dialogue with you to understand your reasons one way or the other.

Sessions Concerning Spousal Support

Using the intake file and the discovery documents as a foundation, Matthew will have a comprehensive discussion of your assets and debts. This discussion will certainly require at least a full session. Depending on the nature of your assets and debts, two or more sessions may be required.

As a Family Law Financial Analyst – one of very few divorce mediators in Portland with specialized financial training – Matthew will help you see the “big picture” with each asset or debt. Through that holistic lens, you will be able to contemplate how each one fits into the entire asset pool and the future you are envisioning for yourselves in your respective post-divorce lives.

With the intake and discovery information, Matthew will be able to help you determine the most equitable and accurate way to value the asset or debt, along with the other factors that affect the true value of an asset or liability. Often, the amount listed on a statement is not the true value of the debt or asset when other considerations are included.

Matthew will share with you several options for handling each asset or debt. He will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. Using his broad and deep knowledge of the financial aspects of divorce, he will help you to understand the short-term and long-term ramifications of each choice that you might be considering. He will explain the length of time that each option would take to complete, as well as any additional costs or documents that would be required.

Sessions Concerning Asset Division and Debt Division

Matthew is a child-centered divorce mediator.

That means that if you have minor children, Matthew will encourage you in your mediation sessions to orient yourselves toward the best interests of your children in all of the choices that you make, even on topics that may seem not to be particularly child-related.

If you have at least one minor child, you will have at least one full mediation session dedicated to the parenting time schedule, the parenting plan, and child support.

Typically, you’ll begin by discussing how you will make major decisions together on behalf of the children.

When you have joint legal custody, there are several groups of decisions (health, education, religion, and residence) that are considered major decisions.

Once you have a general framework for making major decisions, you will discuss several different parenting time schedules that will be included in the Parenting Plan.

Matthew will ask you about many other options to include in your parenting plan – too many to list here. It will not take long; you can simply skip the ones you don’t need to address.

Virtually anything that is legal and can be written in specific terms can be included in a parenting plan.