More Frequently Asked Questions that can be answered with “it depends”.

1. How long will it take?

            Alongside “How much will this cost?”, this is probably the most common question I receive.  The answer as you can probably guess is, “it depends”. The response to this question involves two parts. The first question is, “how long will the mediation process itself take?”  The second question is,” How long will the court process take?” 

Mandatory Mediation

The Hampden Probate and Family Court Mandatory Mediation Program: A Successful Collaboration between a Probate Court, Law School and a Community Mediation Program

In January of 2016 we began an experimental mediation clinic at the Hampden County Probate and Family Court. The Clinic was a collaboration between the Hampden Probate and Family Court, Western New England University School of Law (WNEU) and The Mediation and Training Collaborative (TMTC), a court-approved, community mediation center in Greenfield. The clinic built upon a pilot mandatory mediation program which had been running at the Hampden Probate Court since the fall of 2014, and was administered by TMTC. Under this pilot, the court referred 4 cases per month (2 cases on 2 separate dates). TMTC scheduled mediators to conduct the sessions, and conducted intakes and screening in each case prior to the scheduled date.