Family & Community Mediation
Schedule a Free ConsultationMediation is dispute resolution. A mediator helps people come to an agreement.
Instead of holding a trial or hearing, or rendering a judgment, a mediator's job is to listen to the parties, to help them speak with each other, and to facilitate a resolution both sides are willing to sign on to. When you're in conflict with someone, and can't see a way through to the end of that conflict, a mediator is the perfect person to turn to for help.
Mediators help people work through all kinds of disputes. What to do with a house after a divorce? Changes to child custody arrangements? A dispute with your landlord or tenant? Property disputes or noise complaints? Even a dispute over living or financial arrangements between roommates. Mediators can help with these and practically any other kind of conflict.
Sometimes people are asked to go to mediation by a court to help the parties avoid the time and expense of a full hearing. Sometimes people seek the services of a mediator on their own. Either way, the outcome of mediation is ideally a signed agreement — a contract. And TimeOut Mediations is here to help you reach that goal.
Mediation works. It's your solution, your agreement. And it's faster and cheaper and less adversarial than going to court.
Justice and fairness happen far more often in mediation than they do in court. People appreciate being listened to and retaining control over outcomes, rather than arguing and hoping a judge will see their position. — (Paraphrasing Kenneth Cloke, Director of the Center for Dispute Resolution)
TimeOut Mediations provides neutral, professional mediation services for families and communities in Marion and surrounding counties.
Examples of family mediation include disputes over separation and divorce agreements, custody and parenting plans, child support modifications, or any other contentious issue family members might be involved in with each other. Mediation helps you work through these difficult times using guided discussion and problem-solving. Your conflict can be transformed into cooperation — an important priority when children are involved.
Examples of community mediation can include disputes between neighbors, HOA conflicts, landlord-tenant disagreements, disputes between co-workers or members of a club, faith community or other organization. Even interpersonal conflict between roommates and friends can fall under this umbrella. Your conflict may feel unsolveable, but mediation can help you find a practical solution that takes everyone's priorities seriously.
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Yes, you can. TimeOut mediations offers a sliding scale in cases of genuine need. Please don't hesitate to ask about this during the initial free consultation.
The mediation process is designed to work without attorneys needing to be in the room, and is not intended to be an adversarial process. Still, both parties are welcome to bring an attorney if they wish.
Whether or not attorneys are present in mediation, in many cases, it can be a good idea to have a lawyer review the agreement reached in mediation. A mediator doesn't act as a lawyer, doesn't represent either or both parties, and cannot give legal advice.
The goal of mediation is a signed agreement, and such a contract is binding on both parties. If the parties don't reach an agreement, however, nothing proposed or claimed during the mediation is binding -- in fact everything discussed during mediation is completely confidential.
Most disputes resolve in one to three sessions of one to two hours each. It is common for dispute resolution to be completed within a single session.
The mediator will start by asking each party to describe the dispute as they see it. Based on these descriptions, the mediator will ask questions to help the parties clarify their viewpoints, understand their own and each other's priorities, and find a solution they can both agree to.
Some mediations occur with everyone in the same room. Others involve an arrangement in which each party is in a separate room and the mediator moves between them. Online live mediation is also an option.
You may be surprised. Research on mediation finds that 86% of mediations end in a signed settlement. But if the parties (or sometimes the mediator) do reach a point where they have decided they will not be able to reach an agreement through mediation, then the mediation ends without a settlement. If this happens, nothing said in mediation is binding, and everything discussed remains confidential. The parties are free to seek other means of dispute resolution such as court proceedings.
TimeOut Mediations is the mediation practice of Kris Rhodes. Kris holds a PhD in Philosophy and is a mediator registered with the Indiana Supreme Court Commission. In addition to recently launching TimeOut, Kris has spent years teaching critical thinking and ethics at the university level. He sees all this work as of one piece — building a deep understanding of how people solve problems by reasoning together.
Kris focuses on careful listening, finding the right questions to ask, and clarifying each party's most urgent priorities. The goal is a resolution, produced by the parties together, in which everyone is heard and understood.
The first step is a brief, no-cost conversation to discuss your situation and determine whether mediation is the right fit. Reach out by phone or email to schedule.
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