The
Falmouth Enterprise
January 25, 2013
Falmouth Mediation Offers
Alternative To Court Action
By MICHAEL C. BAILEY
After 35 years in the corporate world, Alan Jacobs of
Falmouth decided it was time for an “encore career.”
Last fall Mr. Jacobs, a 38-year Falmouth resident,
opened Falmouth Mediation in Homeport Office Park on Jones Road, offering his
skills as a professional mediator to private citizens looking for a less
expensive, time-consuming, and stressful way to handle conflicts that would otherwise
go straight to a courtroom setting.
“It’s really an opportunity for two people to sit down
in a private setting to talk with each other, to hopefully get a better
understanding of each other’s position, and negotiate an agreement that works
for both of them and is not imposed upon them by the courts,” Mr. Jacobs said.
Mr. Jacobs brings with him more than 25 years of
training and experience in the mediation field; during his corporate career he
acted as a mediator “most of that bringing people together, resolving people’s
conflicts, making deals, [and] putting together agreements between companies
and institutions.”
He received training at the Boston-based MWI (formerly
Mediation Works, Inc.) and with Cape
Mediation, and has been
trained in advance divorce mediation. In addition to his new private practice,
he also provides mediation services through the Cape & Islands Mediation
Collaborative and in Barnstable County and Nantucket
courts.
In addition to serving clients directly, Mr. Jacobs
has connections with other professionals from various backgrounds to provide
case-specific information, such as tax advice or estate planning.
Although the exact process varies depending on the individual parties
and the issue at hand, a typical medication process simply involves getting
the two sides to discuss their particular needs, wants, and expectations in
the presence of a neutral third party.
Mr. Jacobs added that his preference is to encourage
the two sides to work things out with as little direct involvement by the
mediator as possible.
“I believe in client self-determination. I’m not the
one who makes any decisions whatsoever. What I do is facilitate the process.
Yes, I can make suggestions, I can ask for clarifications,” he said, “but oftentimes
what people just need to do is talk something out and get it clear in their own
minds what it is that they’re looking for.”
The
business focuses specifically on mediation tied to businesses, divorce
proceedings, and family issues such as estate planning, probate matters, and
preparing an elderly relative for transitioning into a care facility.
Most of Mr. Jacobs’ clients come seeking divorce
mediation, which he noted “is the only agreement between people that the
courts actually insinuate themselves.”
One of the problems with the courtroom setting, he
said, is it tends to be adversarial because the attorneys are out to get the
most for their clients rather than seek a fair and equitable division of
assets. Through mediation, the parties directly work out an agreement that
they both view as fair, and the resulting agreement is provided to the court
when the couple goes to finalize the divorce.
The judge might ask questions about the agreement and
how the parties arrived at their decisions, “and unless there’s something very
egregious [in the agreement], the judge will go along with it because the judge
recognizes this is something the parties have worked out.”
Mr. Jacobs said he also strives to help clients
develop “a lasting agreement, to make sure that there’s no coercion one way or
the other…you want it to be something that both parties can live with, and that
it’s not a situation where they wind up with buyer’s remorse three months down
the line.”
Another benefit of mediation over formal legal action
Mr. Jacobs promotes is the lower cost. He cited statistics that showed a
court-contested divorce can cost in excess of $70,000 and take on average two
to four years to resolve. In comparison, a typical divorce can be mediated
for one-tenth the cost and, in an ideal situation, be fully resolved within six
months.
He noted that sometimes he advises clients to seek
outside legal advice to ensure that the final memorandum of understanding is
fair, and that the clients fully understand what they stand to gain and lose in
the agreement.
