Customer Reviews

Fighting Fair: Family Mediation Will Work for You

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In looking at the cover of the book, I expected to read how exactly mediation would work. The reader gets this, but some of the information is helpful for a practitioner of mediation also. Further, the cover (of my copy) asked "Who should get the house when a marriage breaks up?" " Who should support an elderly parent?" and "How do you collect money, from a relative who says he can't pay?" In seeing these questions on the front cover, I was thinking these would be answered.

They really aren't answered. The questions on the cover are examples of the kinds of questions which would need resolution through mediation. As the book points out, going through the court process could make things worse (and more expensive) for the parties involved. This problem is multiplied if there are children involved.

The book does explain the process and shows how it can be helpful for a family going through a divorce and having a family disagreement. It also explains what it means to be a mediator and what training is involved. It also discusses how mediation intersects with the law.

This is a bit of a flaw. This book was written in the early 1980s, so the training involved in mediation as well as the intersection with the law may not be on target here.

Nonetheless, the book does give a good explanation of how mediation can help families deal with disagreement and separation. I would recommend the book for a good basic understanding of the mediation process.