Fees, stated plainly, and mediation side by side with a lawyer of your own.
Two numbers: $500 for the first session, on this page, and one flat fee for the whole mediation, quoted to both of you at that session. The same wherever in Wyoming you are.
Request a first session, together.
Both names, both phones. My office runs conflicts on both of you and calls you both at once to book the $500 first session, in person in Jackson or by video from anywhere in Wyoming.
Rather talk? Call (307) 300-2496 with both of you on the line, or text . If one of you has already spoken to me alone about the case, say so and I will give you names of other mediators.
Fees, stated plainly.
Two numbers: one on this page, one quoted to both of you at the first session. The same wherever in Wyoming you are.
| Amount | What it covers | How it is paid | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The first session | $500, flat | Ninety minutes or so with both of you, in person in Jackson or by video: every concern heard, the process and the law explained, the screen for suitability, and the quote for the whole mediation. If you decide not to proceed, that is the only fee. | Paid when the session is booked, by either or both of you, by card. |
| The mediation | One flat fee, quoted at the first session | All sessions, individual meetings at my discretion, the child support worksheets and alimony analysis, the after-tax analysis, the drafting of the complete agreement and the parenting plan, and the signing session. No hourly meter. | Split as the two of you agree; most couples split it equally. Paid before the sessions begin. |
| Not included | Varies | Each spouse’s independent lawyer for the review before signing; any appraiser or accountant the two of you decide to retain jointly; the court’s filing fee. | Paid by you to those providers directly. |
The flat fee is quoted after I have heard both of you, because it depends on what has to be resolved: a parenting plan and a house is one mediation; a business, a pension and an alimony dispute is another. Once quoted, it does not change unless the two of you add issues.
Mediation, or a lawyer of your own? Side by side.
The same divorce, two processes. Read down the column that describes the two of you.
| Mediation, with me as the neutral | Litigation, with me as your lawyer | |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides the terms | The two of you, with the law explained to both of you in the same words. | The judge, after a trial, unless the lawyers settle it first. |
| Aaron’s role | Neutral for both of you. I represent neither of you, in this matter, ever. | Your advocate. The other spouse has a lawyer of their own. |
| Who is in the room | Both of you and one mediator, in Jackson or on one video link. Your own lawyers at the review stage, or in the sessions if the court ordered mediation in a pending case. | Two lawyers, the experts each side retains, and the judge. |
| How long | Typically four to six sessions over one to two months. The decree can enter no sooner than twenty days after the complaint is filed, which a mediated case has usually passed by the time it is ready. | Set by the court’s calendar and by how much is contested; a contested case commonly runs many months, and often more than a year. |
| What it costs | $500 for the first session, then one flat fee for the whole mediation, quoted at that session. Your own lawyer’s review is separate. | Hourly fees on both sides, plus appraisers, accountants and evaluators where they are needed. The total depends on what is contested and for how long. |
| Privacy | Confidential by statute (W.S. § 1-43-103). The signed agreement is filed; the sessions are not. | Hearings are held in a public courtroom, and the case is decided on a record. |
| Disclosure | Voluntary and complete, by written commitment before we negotiate. An omission ends the mediation. | Compelled: the mandatory disclosures under W.R.C.P. 26, subpoenas, depositions, forensic accountants. |
| The children | The parenting plan is built by the two parents, issue by issue, in the terms the court requires. | Often a guardian ad litem or a custody evaluation, then the judge’s plan. |
| What you leave with | A complete settlement agreement, parenting plan and support worksheet, drafted by me, reviewed by each of your own lawyers, entered as the decree, usually without a hearing. | Orders the judge writes after trial, or a settlement the lawyers negotiate, often on the courthouse steps. |
| It fits when | Both of you want it over, fairly; both will disclose everything and sit at the same table; there are no allegations of abuse. | Assets are hidden, there is abuse, one spouse will not engage, or a question the two of you cannot resolve has to be decided. |
| Afterward | I am disqualified from representing either of you in the matter, whether or not we settle. | I can stay your lawyer through enforcement and any later modification. |
Neither is better in the abstract. Mediation is the right process for two people who both want it over, fairly. Litigation is the right process when one of them does not, or when the facts require a court. If you are reading this alone and want a lawyer on your side, start with Wyoming divorce, with me as your lawyer or mediation or trial.
Why a trial lawyer as your mediator.
Six reasons, none of them modest. Choose your mediator the way you would choose your surgeon: by what they have done.
Why me, for this.
The case for a trial lawyer in the neutral’s chair.
- I know what the alternative costs, because I try the alternative.
Thirty years of divorce trial work, seventy-plus bench trials as first chair. Every proposal in mediation is tested against what a judge would actually order, not against what one spouse hopes for.
- I have watched hundreds of judges decide these exact questions.
Thirty years in family courtrooms is a long education in what persuades a judge and what does not. Mediation is the same exercise without the robe: hear both sides, find the result a court would call fair, and explain it so both of you can accept it.
- The after-tax number, on every issue.
A Georgetown LL.M. in Taxation. The house, the retirement accounts, the business and the alimony term are priced by what each of you keeps, so the agreement is fair in fact and not only on the schedule.
- I read a balance sheet as an owner.
I have built, run and sold companies. When one of you owns a business or a practice, I understand its income and its value the way you do, and I can explain it to the other of you without a war of appraisers.
- Neutral by design, not by promise.
Once you approach me as a mediator I cannot represent either of you, ever, in this matter. Nothing I do in the room is preparation for a case I might later bring. You both know that on day one, and it changes how people talk.
- A finished agreement, not a term sheet.
You leave with a complete, legally binding marital settlement agreement and parenting plan, drafted to be enforced, reviewed by your own lawyers, and ready to file. Most couples are done in four to six sessions over one or two months.
The rest of the guide.
One subject per page, so you can read what you need and ask for the first session when you are ready.
Request a first session, together.
Both of you fill in one form. My office runs a conflicts check on both names and then emails and calls both of you at once, usually the same business day, to set a first session, in person in Jackson or by video from anywhere in Wyoming. The first session is $500, paid when it is booked, and both of you attend. Prefer the phone? Call (307) 300-2496 with both of you on the line.
If one of you has already talked with me alone about the substance of the case, 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 spouses without counsel.