Divorce mediation, with a trial lawyer as the neutral.
Both of you, one mediator, and a complete court-ready agreement in four to six sessions. The first session is $500. After it I quote one flat fee for the whole mediation, and nobody watches a clock again. What you are paying for is thirty years of watching judges decide the same questions you are about to settle: I tell both of you, in the same words, what a Wyoming court would likely do, and then you decide instead of the court. I am not either spouse's lawyer here, and I never will be.
Three things to know before you call.
The first session is $500, paid when it is booked, about ninety minutes, both spouses present. At its end I quote a single flat fee for the entire mediation: sessions, worksheets, after-tax analysis, drafting, signing. No hourly billing. You decide how to split it.
A mediator who might later represent one of you is not a neutral. From the day conflicts clear I am disqualified from representing either spouse in this matter, whether or not the mediation succeeds. Both of you know it on day one, and it changes how you talk.
You leave with a complete marital settlement agreement, a parenting plan in the "well defined terms" the custody statute requires (W.S. § 20-2-201), and a child-support worksheet, each reviewed by your own lawyer, signed, and filed for a decree on the papers.
How it works, start to finish.
Nine steps, one to two months. The order is deliberate. Conflicts clear before anyone says anything substantive. Disclosure comes before negotiation, because a number agreed without the statements behind it is not an agreement. Children come before money, because money is easier once the children are settled, and the reverse order turns a parenting schedule into currency. And each of you has your own lawyer read the finished agreement before you sign it, because the review is what makes it binding, not a formality I am tolerating.
Sessions are in my office two blocks from the Teton County courthouse, or by video from Cheyenne, Casper, Sheridan, Pinedale or wherever in Wyoming you are. Most Jackson couples I mediate have one spouse already living somewhere else, and video is how those cases get done.
In Teton County. Judge Owens, the county's only district judge, orders mediation whenever either party asks for it, so most contested cases here end up in a mediator's office anyway. The difference with this page is that you get there first, before the scheduling order, the discovery and the expert fees. When a pending case settles, her chambers wants to hear promptly, with an estimated date for the dismissal or decree papers, and the proposed decree goes in through the Clerk of District Court.
- 01You contact me together: the joint form below, or one call with both of you on the line
- 02My office clears conflicts on both names. From that moment I am disqualified from representing either of you
- 03First session: $500, paid when booked, about ninety minutes, both of you present. I hear what each of you is worried about and explain the process and the law
- 04I quote one flat fee for the whole mediation, and the clock stops
- 05You sign an agreement to mediate and exchange sworn financial affidavits and the statements behind them (§ 20-2-308; W.R.C.P. 26(a)(1.1))
- 06Four to six joint sessions over one to two months: the children first, then the money
- 07I draft the complete settlement agreement, parenting plan and child-support worksheet
- 08Each spouse's own lawyer reviews the agreement. Required, not optional
- 09Signing session, filing, and a decree, usually entered on the papers no sooner than twenty days after filing (§ 20-2-108)
The rules I work under.
| Rule | What it means for you | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| You approach me together | The first contact is a joint form or one call with both spouses on the line. If one of you calls alone and talks about the case, I cannot mediate it. | Neutrality |
| I never represent either of you | Once I have served as your mediator I am disqualified from representing either spouse in this matter, whether or not we finish, forever. | Wyo. R. Prof. Conduct 1.12, 2.4 |
| I am not your lawyer | I explain Wyoming law to both of you in the same words. What to accept is advice, and advice comes from the lawyer each of you hires to review the agreement. | Wyo. R. Prof. Conduct 2.4(b) |
| Confidential by statute | What is said in mediation is confidential and privileged; I cannot be made to testify about it. Exceptions: written consent of both, a contemplated future crime or harmful act, suspected child abuse, information discoverable anyway, enforcement of the signed agreement. | W.S. §§ 1-43-102, -103 |
| Full disclosure, or we stop | Sworn financial affidavits and the Rule 26 documents are exchanged before any negotiation. An omission that surfaces later ends the mediation that day. | W.S. § 20-2-308; W.R.C.P. 26(a)(1.1) |
| No side conversations | I meet with one of you alone only at my own discretion, and only when both of you know it is happening. Nothing is decided in a caucus. | Neutrality |
| Not where there is violence or abuse | My office screens at intake. Where there are allegations of domestic violence or abuse I decline the mediation and refer each of you to counsel. | Office policy |
| Your own lawyer reviews before signing | Each spouse's independent counsel reads the complete agreement before the signing session. I will not hold a signing without both reviews. | Wyo. R. Prof. Conduct 2.4 |
Once signed and incorporated into the decree, the agreement is a court order: the court reviews the children's terms for their best interests and the financial terms for fairness, every support order must state the presumptive amount from the tables (§ 20-2-307), and the decree is enforced by contempt like any other.
What we resolve, in order.
- The parenting plan. Legal custody and how decisions get made; the schedule in overnights, holidays, summers, ski weeks and exchanges; communication between you; travel; the right of first refusal; and how the plan changes as the children get older. Drafted in the well defined terms the court requires. See parenting schedules and custody.
- Child support. Both net incomes, including seasonal and guiding pay, the statute's tables (W.S. § 20-2-304), the overnight count for shared custody, day care and extraordinary expenses, health insurance, and who claims the children on the return. The worksheet runs on the screen in front of you; the calculator on this site is the same arithmetic.
- The house. Who keeps it or whether it sells; a buyout priced after tax and after the cost of a sale, not off a Zillow number; a refinance deadline with a consequence; the deed and the note. In Jackson the house is usually the biggest asset in the case, and deed-restricted or employee housing has rules of its own. See keeping the house.
- Retirement, investments and debts. 401(k)s, IRAs, pensions and the Wyoming Retirement System, with the QDRO or plan order drafted rather than promised; premarital and inherited shares weighed as the statute weighs them (W.S. § 20-2-114); tax character of each account; debts assigned to the assets they financed.
- The business or practice. An agreed value or a jointly retained appraiser; a buyout secured by a note; and one income figure for the owner that is consistent with the support numbers, so nobody is paid twice on the same dollar. I have built, run and sold companies, and I can explain the owner's numbers to the spouse who never saw them without a valuation war.
- Alimony. Wyoming has no formula. The statute gives the court discretion, with regard to need and ability to pay (W.S. § 20-2-114), and I tell both of you what that discretion tends to produce in cases like yours. Amount, duration, whether it can be modified later, its after-tax effect, and the alternatives: a larger share of property, or a lump sum. See alimony.
- Taxes, fees and the loose ends. Filing status for the year of the decree, who claims the children, the last joint return and its liabilities, carryforwards, health and life insurance, a former name, and the timing of any sale. The Georgetown tax LL.M. earns its keep here: every number on the sheet is priced by what each of you keeps.
What you leave with.
Fees.
| Item | Amount | What it covers | How it is paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| First session | $500 flat | About ninety minutes, both of you present. I hear what each of you is worried about, explain the process and the Wyoming law that applies to your case, screen for whether mediation fits, and quote the fee for the whole mediation. If you decide not to go on, this is the only fee. | By card when the session is booked, by either or both of you. |
| The mediation | One flat fee, quoted at the first session | Every joint session, any individual meetings at my discretion, the child-support worksheet, the after-tax analysis, the drafting of the complete settlement agreement and parenting plan, and the signing session. No hourly billing. | Split as you agree; most couples split it equally. Paid before the sessions begin. |
| Not included | Varies | The lawyer each of you hires to review the agreement before signing; any appraiser, accountant or other expert you retain jointly; the court's filing fee. | Paid directly to those providers. |
I quote the flat fee after the first session rather than on this page because the work varies. Two incomes, a parenting plan and a house is one mediation; a business, a pension, a trust and an alimony dispute is another, and nobody should pay for the second when they have the first.
Already represented? I also mediate for counsel.
If your divorce is already filed and each of you has a lawyer, I mediate those cases too, and they are often the fastest ones. The lawyers attend. I work with counsel on each side, in joint session and in separate rooms as the case needs, and the agreement that comes out of it is drafted with them rather than for a later independent review. Where the court has ordered mediation, I sign whatever certificate of completion the scheduling order calls for.
The structure is the same: a first session, then one flat fee for the rest, quoted per case once I know what is in it. Counsel on either side can contact my office to check conflicts and set it up; the joint-contact rule for unrepresented spouses does not apply when each of you already has a lawyer, because the lawyers are the ones talking to me. What I bring to a represented case is the same thing I bring to an unrepresented one: thirty years of watching judges decide the questions the two sides are arguing about, said out loud to both sides in the same words.
- 01Either lawyer contacts my office; conflicts are run on both parties and both firms
- 02A first session, with the fee for it quoted for the case; counsel and parties attend, in Jackson or by video
- 03One flat fee for the mediation, quoted after the first session; split by agreement of the parties
- 04Joint sessions and caucuses with counsel present, in whatever order the issues need
- 05The agreement drafted with counsel; the parenting plan and support worksheet in the court's form
- 06Certificate of mediation for the court's scheduling order; the stipulated decree filed by counsel
Why a trial lawyer as your mediator.
- Thirty years of trial work, seventy-plus bench trials. Every proposal in the room is tested against what a judge actually does with it, not against what one spouse hopes. A mediator who has never tried a case can only guess at the alternative to settling. I do not have to guess.
- I have watched hundreds of judges make the same rulings. Thirty years in courtrooms, and a stint as a judge pro tem in Los Angeles, is an education in what persuades a judge and what does not. Mediation lets both of you hear that without the robe, before you have spent the money to find out.
- Every number is priced after tax. I hold a Georgetown LL.M. in Taxation. The house, the retirement accounts, the business and alimony are each priced by what the spouse who receives it actually keeps, so the division is fair in fact and not just on a spreadsheet.
- I have owned businesses. I have built, run and sold companies. I understand what an owner's income is and what a business is worth, and I can explain both to the spouse who never saw the books without an appraisal fight.
- Neutral by structure, not by promise. The rules bar me from ever representing either of you in this matter, and nothing said in the room is preparation for a later hearing. Both of you know that on day one, and it changes the conversation.
- A finished agreement, not a term sheet. You leave with a complete, legally binding settlement agreement and parenting plan, reviewed by your own lawyers, ready to file and ready to enforce. Most couples finish in four to six sessions over one to two months. Admitted in Wyoming, Colorado, California, the District of Columbia and Texas.
Who it is for, and what people get wrong.
When mediation fits, when it does not, mediation against a lawyer of your own, and what I tell every couple before the first session
Mediation fits when
Both of you want the marriage to end fairly and would rather decide the terms than have them decided for you. Both of you can sit in a room, or on a screen, and talk. Both of you will disclose everything and expect the same back. You want the children's arrangements worked out by their parents rather than by a guardian ad litem and a judge. You want the estate priced after tax by someone who knows what a court would do with it. And you want it over in months, privately, with one professional in the room instead of two litigation teams.
Mediation does not fit when
There are allegations of domestic violence or abuse. One of you will not disclose, or has already hidden or moved assets. One of you is using the process to buy time or to see the other side's cards. One of you cannot decide freely, for any reason. Either of you has already consulted me about this divorce. Or either of you wants a lawyer in the room advocating for you alone; that is a different service, and the divorce page describes it.
Mediation or a lawyer of your own?
In mediation the two of you decide, with the law explained to both of you equally, and the product is a complete agreement filed for a decree on the papers, usually within a few months. In litigation a judge decides after a trial unless the lawyers settle first, which in Teton County usually happens at a court-ordered mediation anyway, after discovery under Rule 26, subpoenas, depositions and, if custody is contested, the guardian ad litem Judge Owens requires. Litigation is the right answer when assets are hidden, when there has been abuse, when one spouse will not engage, or when a real legal question needs a ruling. The cost comparison is the obvious one: a first session and one flat fee against two hourly bills plus the experts. The privacy comparison is starker: mediation sessions are confidential by statute and never filed; a trial is a public hearing on a public record. And afterward, a mediator is disqualified from either spouse, while a lawyer of your own can stay on for enforcement and modification. The mediation-or-trial page goes further.
Six things people get wrong
That the mediator splits the difference: I anchor to what a court would do, not to the midpoint between two opening positions. That you can each hire me if the mediation fails: you cannot, whether or not it fails. That mediation is only for couples who already agree: it is for couples who want to agree, and the disagreements are resolved one issue at a time. That what you say can be used against you later: it cannot, by statute, and the only thing that leaves the room is the signed agreement. That you do not need lawyers if you mediate: each of you needs one for the review before signing, and not during the sessions, because I am neutral. That it takes years: four to six sessions, one to two months, and the twenty-day minimum is usually behind you by the time the agreement is ready to file.
What I tell every couple before the first session
Contact me together, or not at all. Come wanting an agreement more than a win; the process fails for a spouse who is stalling or scouting. Disclose everything the first time, because an omission found later ends the mediation and an omission found after the decree can reopen it. Bring questions, not positions: the first session is about what each of you is worried about, and the positions, if they ever come, come later. Plan on your own lawyer reading the agreement before you sign; that is what makes it binding. And expect directness. If one of you asks for something no Wyoming court would order, I will say so, to both of you, in the room.
The questions couples ask about mediation.
How do we get started?
Can you represent one of us if the mediation doesn't work?
What does it cost?
How long does it take?
Do we have to have filed for divorce first?
Is it confidential?
What if my spouse is hiding money?
Is mediation appropriate if there has been domestic violence?
What happens to the children's issues?
What do we get at the end?
Request a first session, together.
One form, both of you. My office runs conflicts on both names and calls you both at once, usually the same business day, to book the first session: $500, about ninety minutes, in person in Jackson or by video from anywhere in Wyoming.
If a form is awkward, call (307) 300-2496 with both of you on the line, or have one of you text and the other confirm. What I cannot do is take the first call from one spouse alone about the substance of the case. If that has already happened, say so on the form and I will give you the names of other mediators.
Lawyers setting up a mediation in a pending case can contact my office directly; the joint-contact rule is for unrepresented spouses.