Home Sweet Home: How Divorce Mediation Saved the Family Home and Equity
Divorce is more than just paperwork—it's a negotiation. It's about finding a way for everyone to get what they need (and, ideally, most of what they want) without turning it into a battleground. Let me share a story about a couple I worked with who did just that, and all thanks to mediation.
The wife wanted to keep the family home. It was where she and the kids felt secure, and she couldn't imagine uprooting their lives on top of everything else. The husband, on the other hand, wasn’t looking to keep the house, but he understandably wanted his fair share of the equity. They were at an impasse—court seemed inevitable. But instead of spending thousands on a drawn-out legal war, they came to me, and we sat down in mediation to figure it out.
What happened next is what I like to call some expert “horsetrading.” Through mediation, we worked together to craft a deal that made sense for everyone. The wife got to keep the family home, and it was transferred to her as her separate property. Meanwhile, the husband got his share of the equity by trading off other assets that were important to him. Everyone walked away satisfied. She kept the house, the kids got stability, and he was happy knowing that his equity was honored without tearing the family apart financially.
This is why mediation works—because divorce doesn’t have to be a win-lose situation. It’s a negotiation where both parties can walk away with most of what they want, without burning everything to the ground. If this couple had gone to court, they could’ve easily spent tens of thousands of dollars, while risking a result neither would have been happy with. But in mediation, they took control, found common ground, and left with a solution that worked for everyone.
At TheModernDivorce.com, my goal is to help couples avoid the courtroom drama and find peace in the negotiation process. Divorce is a tricky puzzle, but with the right guidance and a focus on collaboration, we can piece it together so everyone’s better off. If you’re staring down a complicated situation like who keeps the family home, mediation could be the key to getting what you want while keeping the peace. Let’s work it out together.
