The key to whether mediation is appropriate has to do with whether the parties each are able to intelligently negotiate their division. Whether a family home is worth $50,000 or $500,000 may not make a difference to a party’s understanding what he or she wants. However, if financial matters are too complex for both or either parties to intelligently understand then mediation may still be appropriate, where the mediation occurs in with the presence of the parties’ attorneys, accountants, and/or financial planners. In that case, mediation is still a highly valuable tool to get all parties and information in the same room to try to settle the case and parties might want to direct their attorneys to attempt settlement using mediation.
