The mediation process concludes in the preparation and execution of a formal, legally binding separation agreement by one of our attorneys which incorporates and accurately reflects the understanding that the two of you have verbally concluded.

A typical separation agreement will address:

• Custody and visitation of minor children

• Liabilities (credit card debt, car loans, responsibility for mortgage notes, home equity loans, promissory notes, pension loans, and all other debt)

• Personal property (house contents, vehicles, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, other investment accounts, stocks, stock options, bonds, and life insurance cash surrender value)

• Self-employed or other business

• Retirement benefits, including defined benefit plans (i.e. a pension), defined contribution plans (i.e. 401(k), IRA, Keogh), and other retirement plans

• Real property (sale, transfer, buyout or continued joint ownership of marital residence, investment properties, time-shares, vacation or other property and related tax implications)

• Child Support

• Spousal support

• College education expenses

• Medical insurance coverage (for children and ex-spouse)

• Life insurance coverage

• Federal and state income taxes

Your separation agreement will provide you with the assurance that all important issues have been addressed and that there is nothing that has been overlooked or left out. Since we proceed on the assumption that a dispute between a couple who has separated and divorced is simply a question their agreement didn't answer, we are concerned with the quality of your agreement - concerned that there is nothing of importance that has been forgotten or that it does not address. In fact, you should be left with a better agreement in divorce mediation than you will be should you to turn to adversarial divorce proceedings. That is because you are free to make a far more complete agreement for yourselves than a court is permitted to make for you. Thus, you will not be left with just half of an agreement - one that only looks to today, but does not make adequate provision for tomorrow - which is so often the case with agreements that are concluded through adversarial divorce proceedings.