Are you trying to settle your divorce outside of court and decide on everything in mediation? If so, it will help to know what things need to be included in your divorce settlement.

Asset Distribution

A large part of mediation is going to be about asset distribution, which is how all of the shared assets between you and your spouse will be divided among the two of you. There are many laws in place already that help define what is joint and individual property, and you'll need to remove those items from discussion in the early stages since their ownership is already decided. 

Joint property will need to be distributed in a fair manner that is mutually agreed on. If there are items that are debated about how to divide them, such as a home, you can have certain property items brought to litigation where a judge will make a final decision.

Debt Distribution

Just like how assets are distributed, the same happens with debts. You need to look at your debts and decide who will be responsible for paying those debts off. It is common for debts brought into the marriage to belong to the person that originally took on the debt, while debts that were taken on after the marriage are split between the two spouses.

Custody And Visitation

There are many decisions that need to be made regarding the custody of children. This includes who has legal custody, which is who has the right to make decisions on a child's behalf. You'll also need to decide who has final decision-making authority when agreements cannot be made between both the parents when they both have joint legal custody.

A very detailed visitation schedule will need to be created as well. This will spell out where the child will be, including days and times where custody changes. You'll also need to decide which parent the child will be with for each holiday.

Child And Spousal Support

Child and spousal support decisions also need to be made. This is often done by filling out a worksheet that helps support the decisions that you make, which is then approved by a judge to confirm that it is fair. Your divorce settlement should list how much child and spousal support is paid and what day of the month it is paid on. For children, decisions need to be made on who is paying for health insurance, as well as how large medical expenses will be covered as they come up. 

For more information, reach out to a law firm like Evans & Turnblad.