155 Fleet Street

Portsmouth, NH, 03801

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617-799-8706

Family Mediation

ELDER AND ADULT SIBLING MEDIATION

NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITY OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Have you and family members entered into dispute or reached a stalemate on handling critical situations, even legal matters? Family matters are often sensitive and rife with emotion. Difficulties often stem from life transitions of an elder family member, the division of an estate, management of a family asset, or a lingering dispute between adult siblings. Mediation can help avoid further conflict, address bruised relationships and enable the family to problem solve.

MPNE focuses on not only resolution but also on conflict prevention, skill building and alleviating on-going disagreements for the long term. 
During life transitions, challenges arise in matters of finance, medical care, family possessions, safety and living arrangements just to name a few. Family disagreements are to be expected and some conflict can be constructive but too much conflict can be harmful to an elder, the caregiver, and the family in general. The goal is to achieve understanding and foster harmony.
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Family Mediation Catagories

Family Mediation navigates the complex and often delicate relations between family members of the same or a different generation. It generally includes the following:

  • Legacy Mediation:

    Decisions related to estate plans; decisions regarding co-owned property or assets left to descendants. For example, a vacation cottage left to children and future generations.

  • Elder Mediation or Senior Mediation:

    Typically refers to family mediation related to planning older adult living arrangements, driving or life care arrangements.

  • Adult Sibling Mediation:

    This could be for any conflict between adult siblings such as how to care for parents, estate property management disagreements or disputes over inheritance.

  • Family Business Mediation:

    Could take place be between parents and children who jointly own the company, just siblings that own the company or family members and non-family employees of the business.

  • Marital Mediation:

    Includes divorce, pre-nuptial, post nuptial or ongoing marital disputes, and be used for married or unmarried domestic couples. Marital Mediation may also include a parenting plan for divorced or divorcing couples. Our Divorce & Post-Divorce Mediation page offers specific information for couples seeking mediation to peacefully and equitably end their marriage.

A Safe And Welcome Place For All!

We welcome members of the LGBTQ community and people of all backgrounds to our practice. We believe that families come in many different sizes, shapes and combinations under the rainbow, and that each is a special mosaic. 

Among the most important elements of family unity are respect, dignity and shared values. We seek to preserve and nurture these precious qualities in family relationships. 
By opening the door to respectful and honest discussions, the family has a model to use in future sensitive situations to nurture cooperation and live in harmony.
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The most popular questions about Family Mediation

Once a family member or friend engages Mediation Partners New England, the mediator will call each family member to discuss the situation and their perspective.

When you contact Mediation Partners New England, we can explore how to best approach your siblings. Sometimes an invite by phone from you and a follow up conversation with me is appropriate. If not, a letter can be sent introducing the mediator and then we follow up with a phone call.

Though it is preferred that everyone be in the same room, there are several alternatives. One alternative is to tools like SKYPE, Adobe Connect or Google Hangouts.(need to get trademarks) Another alternative is to conduct the mediation using an audio conferencing facility. A third alternative is that the mediation takes place online using a mediation tool. This last alternative can be time consuming but good for people in different time zones.
Whether your Mom attends should be addressed with her. As part of the preparation for the session, and if the family agrees, the mediator would want to talk to your Mom and sense her feelings about her children’s concern and her own wishes. At the session sometimes parents just want to listen, sometimes they just want to come to the beginning of the session and then leave, and other times they want to have a voice in the discussion. Maintaining respect and dignity is a key goal for the mediator.

The next step is to send a note of interest to Mediation Partners New England. CLICK HERE to complete contact information and someone will get back to you within two days. If you’d prefer, you can call at 617-799-8706 to speak to Susan directly.

FREE 30-MINUTE CONSULTATION

Are you and another party struggling with a conflict? We offer 30 minutes of initial consultation free by telephone or video conference.

 
The initial consultation will provide an overview of my mediation services, approach and process. A brief description of the circumstances will be explored.