What do I do if my partner and I don't agree on our parenting plan?
Some parents are getting divorced because they don't communicate well, they don't talk well with each other, they don't solve problems together well. The next best thing to agree a parenting plan is to hire a mediator. That is the very best way to go. This is a person who's trained in listening to both sides and then not taking sides and helping people communicate with each other about the best interest of the child and the best interest of everybody in the family, to set a sensible parenting plan. And many times parents don't understand each other: there's a lot of conflict going on and they're not really listening to each other. A mediator can help people listen to each other in a depth that they need to listen and that's a positive service. That's the place to go to agree a parenting plan. In fact, most of our courts now are requiring that parents go to a mediator to agree a parenting plan before they ever go to the court for good reason because with a person who's a professional at mediation they can help people settle their differences quite quickly. And it isn't necessary to go to a judge. So they have a very high success rate in courts when they require mediation. And mediation isn't just a one shot deal. I mean you go back and back you go back and you figure it out and that's a very powerful wonderful service.
