Not to mention that I refuse to go through mediation. I will be seeking legal counsel to protect my financial future.
The two are not mutually exclusive.
I went through mediation - we had the mediating attorney, and then both my ex and myself had our own outside attorneys to advise us.
We would meet with the mediator, discuss certain issues, then both go see our own attorneys to discuss. Then we'd come back to another mediation appointment and hash it out.
It helped because his individual attorney could tell him when his expectations were not reasonable, and mine would give me a realistic idea of what I might get if we went to court.
The process wasn't fun, but a heck of a lot better than court (and much cheaper too). We both compromised on a lot of items, and I do believe the end result was pretty fair to both of us.
