How it works, start to finish.
Nine steps over one to two months, the children before the money, and a complete, court-ready agreement at the end. In person in Jackson or by video from anywhere in Wyoming.
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.
Two people, one room, one agreement. The courtroom stays where it belongs: in the background, as the measure of what is fair.
Most divorcing couples do not need two litigators. They need someone who knows how these cases end, who can hear both of them, and who can turn what they agree on into a document a judge will sign. That is mediation done properly, and it is a different job from the one I do on the other pages of this site. When I represent a spouse, I build the case for one side. When I mediate, I take no side: I am neutral, and my job is helping the two of you reach an agreement you both accept. The two roles never touch: from the moment a couple approaches me as their mediator, I am conflicted out of representing either of them, in this divorce or against each other afterward, whether or not the mediation succeeds. That is the professional rule, and it is also what makes the process work, because nothing I say in the room is positioning for a hearing I might later try.
What I bring to the room is the courtroom. Seventy-plus bench trials, a Georgetown LL.M. in Taxation, and two decades of owning and running businesses. A mediator who has never tried a case can only guess what the alternative to settlement looks like. I can tell both of you, in plain terms and at the same time, what a Wyoming judge is likely to do with your parenting plan, your house, your company and your alimony question, and what each proposal is worth after tax. Couples settle when both of them believe the number in front of them is close to what a courtroom would produce and costs a fraction of getting there. My job is to make that belief accurate.
How it works, start to finish.
Nine steps, in the order they happen. Most couples are through them in one to two months.
Nine steps, one to two months.
- Step 1You contact my office together.
One form with both names, both emails and both phone numbers; or one call with both of you on the line.
- Step 2Conflicts check, then the rule attaches.
If the check clears, I can never represent either of you in this matter. Whether or not we settle.
- Step 3First session: $500 flat, paid at booking.
In person in Jackson or by video anywhere in Wyoming. Both of you attend. Every concern heard; the process and the law explained.
- Step 4One flat fee for the whole mediation, quoted in the room.
No hourly meter. You decide together whether to go on; if not, the $500 is the only fee.
- Step 5Agreement to mediate; full disclosure of every asset.
Both of you commit in writing. Sworn financial affidavits and documents exchanged before we negotiate.
- Step 6Joint sessions: four to six, over one to two months.
Children first, then the money. Individual meetings only at my discretion, and both of you know when they happen.
- Step 7I draft the complete marital settlement agreement.
Settlement agreement, parenting plan and child support worksheet, complete and ready to file.
- Step 8Each of you has your own lawyer review it.
Required, not optional. Independent counsel reads it with one client’s interests in mind.
- Step 9The signing session, the filing, the decree.
You both sign; the papers are filed; the court usually enters the decree on the papers, without a hearing.
What both of you commit to.
- Both of you make the first contact, together
- Both of you attend every session
- Full disclosure of every asset, debt and income
- No side conversations: I speak with one of you alone only in an individual meeting I call
- Your own lawyer reviews the agreement before the signing session
- Confidential by statute; the signed agreement is all that leaves the room
- Any allegation of domestic violence or abuse
- One of you contacts me alone about the case
- One of you will not disclose, or has moved or hidden assets
- Either of you has already consulted me about this divorce
The same nine steps, in detail
- Step 1You contact my office together.
One joint request (the form below) or one call with both of you on the line. Not one of you first. My office answers both of you, together, and never discusses the case with one of you alone.
- Step 2Conflicts, and the rule that follows.
My office runs a conflicts check on both names. If either of you has consulted me about this divorce, I cannot mediate. If the check clears, the reverse rule attaches for good: I will not represent either of you in this matter, ever, whether or not the mediation succeeds.
- Step 3The first session: $500, both of you, paid at booking.
In person in Jackson or by video from anywhere in Wyoming, about ninety minutes. I hear every concern from both of you, explain how the process works and what the law does with each issue, and screen for anything that makes mediation inappropriate.
- Step 4One flat fee for the whole mediation, quoted in the room.
Having heard both of you, I quote a single flat fee that covers every session, the calculations, the drafting and the signing. No hourly meter. You decide together whether to proceed; if you do not, the $500 is the only fee.
- Step 5The agreement to mediate, and full disclosure.
Both of you sign the agreement to mediate: my neutrality, no legal advice to either of you, confidentiality under Wyoming’s mediation act, the fee, and your commitment to disclose every asset, debt and source of income. Sworn financial affidavits and the supporting documents are exchanged before the substantive sessions (W.S. § 20-2-308; W.R.C.P. 26(a)(1.1)).
- Step 6Joint sessions, four to six of them.
Children first: the parenting plan, decision-making, the schedule in overnights, holidays, exchanges, the child support worksheet. Then the money: the house, the retirement accounts, the business, debts, alimony, taxes, fees. Homework between sessions: an appraisal, a statement, a proposal.
- Step 7Individual meetings, at my discretion only.
Where it will move the case, I may meet with each of you separately, with both of you knowing it is happening. Apart from that, I do not communicate with one spouse unless the other is present. No side calls, no private emails about the case.
- Step 8The complete agreement, then your own lawyer.
I prepare the complete, legally binding marital settlement agreement covering every asset, debt and support term, the parenting plan and the child support worksheet, drafted to be filed and enforced. Each of you must have independent counsel review it before the signing session. That review is required, not optional.
- Step 9The signing session, and the decree.
We meet once more, in person or by video; you both sign. Wyoming has no joint petition, so one of you files the complaint with the agreement attached and the other accepts service and stipulates, or the agreement is filed in the case already pending. The court reviews the financial terms for fairness and the children’s terms for their best interests and, in most cases, enters the decree on the papers, no sooner than twenty days after the complaint is filed (W.S. § 20-2-108).
What we resolve, in order.
The sequence is deliberate. The children come first because the money is easier once both parents know the children are settled.
| Session focus | What is decided | What I bring to it |
|---|---|---|
| The parenting plan | Custody and decision-making (jointly, by subject, or to one parent); the schedule in overnights, school year, summer and holidays; exchanges; communication through a co-parenting application; travel; the right of first refusal; how the plan changes as the children grow. | The best-interests factors and the “well defined terms” the custody statute requires (W.S. § 20-2-201), drafted so the plan is enforceable on a Tuesday in February. The schedules compared, with the trade-offs of each. |
| Child support | Both net incomes established, seasonal and guiding pay included, the overnights counted, the worksheet run on the statute’s tables (W.S. § 20-2-304), day care and extraordinary expenses allocated, health insurance and the tax credits assigned. | The worksheet, live, on the screen, under every set of inputs either of you proposes; the calculator on this site is the same arithmetic. For an owner or an executive, the income rebuilt from the records rather than the return. |
| The house | Who keeps it or whether it is sold; the buyout priced after tax; the refinance deadline; the deed and the note. | Value, equity and after-tax proceeds are three different numbers. The keeping-the-house page explains why; in the room I do the arithmetic. |
| Retirement, investments, debts | The QDRO or plan order, the Wyoming Retirement System, the premarital and inherited shares, the tax character of each account, the debts allocated with the assets they financed. | Pre-tax, Roth and taxable dollars are not equal. Every division is shown to both of you after tax. |
| The business or practice | A value both of you can accept, a buyout that is secured, and an income figure for support that is consistent with the value. | I have owned businesses. A single agreed valuation approach, or one jointly retained appraiser, instead of two experts and a hearing. |
| Alimony | Whether, how much, for how long, and whether it can be modified; the after-tax effect, and the alternatives (a larger share of property, a lump sum). | Wyoming has no formula: the court’s discretion is guided by 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. The alimony page covers the law. |
| Taxes, fees, loose ends | Filing status for the year, who claims the children, the last joint return, carryforwards, insurance, names, the timing of the sale and the decree. | A Georgetown LL.M. in Taxation, applied to the whole agreement before anyone signs. |
Couples settle when both of them believe the number in front of them is close to what a courtroom would produce. My job is to make that belief accurate.
What you leave with: a complete agreement, ready to file.
Not a term sheet, not a memorandum for someone else to finish.
The documents.
You leave with the settlement agreement, the parenting plan and the support worksheet, complete and court-ready; each of you has your own lawyer review them; then the signing session, the filing, and a decree usually entered on the papers.
A complete, legally binding marital settlement agreement covering every asset and debt, alimony or its waiver, the allocation of taxes and fees and the mechanics of each transfer, with dates; the parenting plan, written to stand on its own; the child support worksheet showing the presumptive amount; and, where they are needed, the transfer documents that follow: the deed, the retirement order, the income-withholding order.
The independent review.
Each of you takes the complete agreement to your own lawyer before the signing session. That lawyer works for one of you, reads the agreement with one client’s interests in mind, and tells you whether to sign it. Most reviews take an hour or two and produce a handful of clarifications, which I make. I will not hold the signing session until both of you have had that review.
The signing, and the court.
We meet once more and you both sign. If nothing has been filed, one of you files the complaint with the agreement attached and the other accepts service and stipulates, which is the most private route through the courthouse; if a case is pending, the agreement is filed in it. The court reviews the financial terms for fairness and the children’s terms for their best interests, and in most mediated cases enters the decree on the papers without a hearing, no sooner than twenty days after the complaint is filed. If the court has questions, they are answered on paper or at a short appearance.
If we do not finish.
Some couples resolve most issues and not all. You keep a signed memorandum on the issues resolved, which the court can approve as a stipulation; the open issues go to counsel or to the court. Everything said in the sessions stays confidential, and I remain disqualified from representing either of you.
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.