New England Mediation Services

I overheard a couple of attorneys talking the other day. It seems that one of the attorneys has a client who is trying to sell a house owned by him and another party. To do this, the party who wants to sell the party petitions the Probate Court for what's called a partition. The other party, according to this attorney, is effectively preventing the sale by using delaying tactics such as demanding that the house be sold for an amount believed to be excessive and delaying the signing of certain paperwork. The attorneys were talking about all the different legal ways the opposing party could be forced to act in a way that they though he should. All of those efforts, of course cost a lot of money because they involve the usual research, document preparation, appearances in court and follow up work. Of course, there are times when such efforts are the only option. But what struck me was that there was no mention of the mediation option. There's no way of telling whether an attempt to bring the parties together in mediation would result in a settlement that could allow the parties to move forward. However, whenever I hear of resistence on the part of one party, I can't help but think that the resistant party just isn't getting something he or she needs. And, I wonder if anyone is asking that question. That's one of the benefits of mediation. You have some place to go where someone who's not involve in the fight can ask some questions and where the party can feel safe to speak his mind. It seems simple. And in many ways it is. That's why I'm always amazed when people overlook it on their way to more complicated and costly efforts. Drop me a line and tell me what you think.