Colorado Divorce Mediators Innovate Family Mediation Process, With Flat Panel Television Monitors

Large LCD Displays Bring Visual Power To Collaborative Divorce Planning In Mediation

At Divorce Resolutions, , we have long pioneered the innovative use of technology in delivering the highest quality, cost-efficient family and divorce mediation services. For several years, we have envisioned bringing large flat panel television displays to aid in our work with mediation clients.

In 2006, we realized this goal, becoming the first family and divorce mediation practice in the country to abandon our sole reliance on “old-school” presentation-style flip charts to chronicle mediation discussions and to consider and develop with our clients divorce planning options and scenarios.

To this end, our Colorado family mediation practice acquired three Dell “Stratosphere” liquid crystal display (LCD) high-definition television and wide aspect displays. Each of our mediators’ offices now features a 37-inch flat screen television monitor, and our conference room features a 32-inch flat screen television monitor as well.

Chosen for their high contrast ratio and brightness, these digital flat screen monitors display, for all to consider in the mediation process, our custom divorce planning tools and powerful standardized software applications — given assumptions and data collaboratively developed and inputted on our tableside laptop computer.

Our laptops in turn permit large screen display and direct client consideration of, real-time internet and office intranet resources, by link to our encrypted wireless “Wi-Fi” network from its high-gain broadcast access point.

Benefits Of This Technology In Divorce Mediation

Powerful Visuals In Reviewing Options

In mediation, as in life generally, “One picture is worth 10,000 words.” The power of artful “brainstorming” — the creative visualization of options and alternatives — has long been recognized as one of the unique advantages of mediating divorce and family law issues.

By working on-screen and directly with our clients, we can much more easily do this work. Education is often desired and useful in mediation, and we can efficiently present Colorado divorce law substantive and process information with PowerPoint slides.

Real-Time Collaborative Divorce Planning

More important, these monitors substantially ease our clients’ considering the typical issues of divorce. In contrast, to the mediator “preparing” his vision of a number of possible alternatives in advance, our new technology allows collaborative real-time client participation in divorce and separation planning, including:

• Framing and analyzing the fairness of different approaches to dividing marital assets and assigning debts with our own custom Excel marital property division tool
• Reviewing assumptions of both parties’ after-divorce living circumstances and family budgets
• Considering alternatives (including income and overnights) in calculating so-called “Guidelines” child support with the standardized tools preferred by Colorado Courts
• Assessing the real impact of various approaches to spousal maintenance (what both households have to spend, after divorce, after support and after taxes!) using powerful divorce tax planning software

These scenarios and alternatives detailed in our work in-session and on screen are saved and usually printed for clients’ further review and consideration between sessions!

After only several months of working with the large flat panel Dell television monitor displays, the power of their visuals in mediation is clear. Our clients consistently rave about their use. They tell us that the television monitor displays greatly facilitate their considering options and finding mutually satisfying divorce solutions in their work with us in mediation. As mediators, we look back and wonder how we earlier practiced our craft without these tools!

As we have from the inception of our business, we continue at Divorce Resolutions to seek out other fresh approaches and innovative practices — in our mission, as professional mediators, of easing the challenges of divorce and separation.

See our website’s section on Why Choose Mediation? for compelling reasons to consider mediation of your divorce case or parenting dispute.