What is Parenting Coordination?
Parenting coordination is a child-focused alternative dispute resolution process in which mental health or legal professionals with mediation training and experience assist high conflict parents to implement their parenting plan by facilitating the resolution of their disputes in a timely manner, educating parents about children’s needs, and with prior approval of the parties and/or the court, making decisions within the scope of the court order or appointment contract.
Effects of High Conflict Divorce
The impact of high-conflict divorce on children can be devastating, traumatic, and extremely stressful. Children can survive divorce; however, they cannot survive unharmed by the drawn-out, chronic, high-conflict fighting that occurs between parents in a difficult divorce. Chronic fighting between the parents can erode the relationship between children and one or both parents, and children who experience high conflict divorce can suffer serious psychological and social problems.
Objective of Parenting Coordination
The overall objective of parenting coordination is to assist high conflict parents to implement their parenting plan, to monitor compliance with the details of the plan, to resolve conflicts regarding their children and the parenting plan in a timely manner, and to protect and sustain safe, healthy and meaningful parent-child relationships. Parenting coordination is a mental health, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process that combines assessment, education, case management, conflict management and sometimes decision-making functions.
The Parenting Coordinator role is most frequently reserved for those high conflict parents who have demonstrated their longer-term inability or unwillingness to make parenting decisions on their own, to comply with parenting agreements and orders, to reduce their child-related conflicts, and to protect their children from the impact of that conflict.
Parenting Coordination Referral Process
The request for appointment of a parenting coordinator must be made either by motion of a party, joint motion by both parties, or on the court’s own motion. The motion by the party(ies) must be filed with the Clerk of Court and served on the other party(ies).
A Family can also seek Parenting Coordination on their own without a Court Order.
What is the Cost of Parenting Coordination?
Court Ordered Process:
Hourly Fee: $250.00 (Monday – Friday) or $275.00 (Weekends)
Initial Retainer of $2500 (First 10 hours) Due to the investigative work the Parenting Coordination must do to gather all pertinent information that may involve work done while the parent is not present.
Retainer Replenishment Increments: $250 (Account must be replenished when account falls to $250)
The Initial Retainer is due before any work begins on the Parenting Coordination Case along with a signed contract by both parties. Any work done on the PC case will be deducted from the Initial Retainer in increments of 15 minutes. Fees to the account will be charged for ANY time that is spent on the PC case to include but not limited to document preparation, filing papers with the courts, travel time, any calls, emails, and meetings with clients, attorneys, and any other information gathering that may be needed. An itemized bill will be sent to both parties monthly listing account balance.
Percentage of the payments due by each party is determined by the Court and will be stated in the Court Order and is based on the total bill NOT based on time spent with each parent. Again, this percentage due by each parent is determined by the court not by the Parenting Coordinator.
Voluntary Parenting Coordination Process:
Hourly Fee: $250.00 (Monday – Friday) or $275.00 (Weekends)
Initial Retainer of $2250 (First 10 hours) Due to the investigative work the Parenting Coordination must do to gather all pertinent information that may involve work done while the parent is not present.