"I want to mediate my divorce, but my spouse is so full of bitterness and anger that he refuses. What can I do?"

It seems to me that you are looking for a quick and/or final resolution to your divorce. Your spouse, on the other hand, may not be ready to end the marriage. Most Texas divorce courts have a requirement that you mediate your family-law case before you go to trial. If the opposing party or counsel is not being cooperative in setting divorce mediation, then you can file a Motion for Mediation. The court will have a hearing, and most of the time, it will order the parties to mediation within a specific amount of time before going to final trial.

It is important to know that just because you go to divorce mediation does not a guarantee that you will settle your case at mediation, especially if your spouse is extremely bitter and angry. A neutral divorce mediator can be very beneficial in calming the tension between divorcing parties and resolving the issues in contentious divorces. Once your spouse is ordered to divorce mediation, he may be willing to listen to a neutral mediator and discuss the divorce from a new point of view. If the court does not require mediation and you do not believe that the opposing party will settle at mediation, you may need to think about going straight to trial.

Barrett A. Stern is an associate attorney with Allison & Johnson in Dallas and Plano. 

Tuesday, May 15
at 8 pm to 8:30 EST
Out With the Tragedy: Turning Divorce into a meaningful experience
with Allison Pescosolido and Andra Brosh, founders of Divorce Detox
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