High-Conflict Divorce? Mediation Puts You Back in Control
You don’t have to fight it out in court to protect what matters.
If your divorce feels personal, painful, and messy—if you’re angry, hurt, and want to make sure you’re not the one left with nothing—you’re not alone.
Most people think hiring a lawyer and heading straight to court is their only option. But it’s not. And it may not be the smartest.
Mediation offers a faster, more private, and more affordable path forward—even when emotions are running high. Especially then.
When Everything Feels Out of Control, Mediation Helps You Regain It
You decide what happens next. In court, a judge decides your future. In mediation, you do. You don’t have to agree on everything. You just need to be willing to show up and try.
It costs less—way less. Attorney retainers can start at $6,000–$10,000 per person. At Thresholds, mediation is $300 per hour total—not per party. That means more progress, less pressure.
It’s confidential. What’s said in mediation stays confidential. You won’t have to relive your hardest moments in front of a stranger in a robe or put your life on public record.
It’s focused. We don’t waste time rehashing everything that went wrong. We help you work through what matters most—custody, property, financial arrangements—and move forward.
It protects your kids. Children don’t need one parent to win. They need both parents to get to the other side of the war. Mediation helps you shield your kids from ongoing damage and keep their stability at the center of the process.
What High Conflict Really Means
It’s not just yelling or slammed doors. It can be betrayal, mistrust, silence, or total breakdown in communication. It’s when you feel like nothing’s going to be fair unless you make it fair.
In a lawyer-centered process, your feelings of mistrust and betrayal are at best an inconvenience—and at worst, they become fuel for escalation and increased legal fees. In mediation, those same feelings are treated as important guideposts. They help us understand what matters to you—your boundaries, your priorities, and your needs.
You don’t have to be calm or on good terms to use mediation. You just need to be willing to participate.
What Mediation Requires—and What It Doesn’t
You don’t need to like or trust your ex. You don’t need to fix the past. You just need:
A willingness to engage in the process.
A commitment to stay at the table.
A desire to protect your time, your money, and your future.
We’ll handle the rest.
At Thresholds, We Know High Conflict
We’re not here to take sides. We’re here to guide the conversation, create a structure that works, and help you build an agreement that sticks. We use a focused checklist to make sure no major issue gets overlooked. You’ll leave with a signed mediation agreement that reflects the decisions you made—not a deal handed down by a stranger in a robe.
What Happens After Mediation?
Thresholds does not provide legal representation—and that means we will not help you draft your divorce paperwork or file it with the court.
What we do provide is a signed agreement that lays out the decisions and commitments you’ve made. We use a checklist during mediation to make sure the issues most courts require are addressed—but not everything on that list will be relevant or end up in your final agreement. What matters is that you haven’t overlooked anything important.
In many states, you should be able to file for uncontested divorce on your own. But the process can vary—not just by state, but from judge to judge. That’s why many people choose to hire a flat-fee attorney after mediation to prepare and file the paperwork. It’s an efficient way to keep costs down and avoid errors.
Want to Talk?
If you're in the middle of a high-conflict divorce—or just need a better way forward—we offer a free 20-minute consultation to see if mediation is the right fit.