family. It is common for families to experience a reduction in their overall standard of living after a divorce and for everyone to experience emotional and social changes.
Parents preparing for divorce in Texas often hope to minimize the impact that their divorce proceedings have on their children. Many parents specifically decide to participate in mediation together because they want to reduce conflict about divorce matters as much as possible.
Mediation can be beneficial because it requires that parents work together and keeps much of the marital conflict out of divorce court. It can also be helpful because it protects older children from the most stressful components of litigated custody proceedings.
Older children have to express their custody preferences
A Texas family law judge making determinations about contested custody matters has to consider numerous factors when dividing parenting time and parental authority. If the children and the family are over the age of 12, then their preferences are among the factors that may influence what a judge decides.
Judges may ask children about the state of their relationship with each of the parents and if there is a home where they would prefer to live most of the time. The need to make that decision and communicate it publicly can be very stressful for children. Even those who have a specific preference may worry that expressing it could damage their relationship with their other parent or with their siblings.
Older children may be mature enough to express an opinion, but that maturity does not eliminate the emotional damage they may experience when they feel stuck in the middle of the divorce. If parents mediate and successfully resolve custody matters on their own, the children never have to consider their preferences at length or express them in court. It can therefore be quite beneficial for divorcing parents in Texas to consider mediation as an option when they disagree on key parenting issues.
Using divorce mediation to resolve custody and property division matters can benefit everyone in the family. Parents who cooperate during a divorce may have an easier time working together moving forward.