Mediate Michigan

Unlike lawyers who are hired to advocate for one side, elder-care mediators function as impartial observers in a voluntary process designed to be less adversarial – and cheaper – than a court proceeding. Mediation is increasingly being recommended by lawyers and judges to families for whom a temporary stalemate or long-term estrangement has morphed into a full-blown crisis, often triggered by parental disability. Mediators say their job is not to dictate a solution, but to establish a framework for making decisions and to forge a consensus that is right for a particular family.

“We focus on communication skills and analyzing family dynamics, and trying to get everyone on board,” said Janet E. Mitchell, an Indiana lawyer who directs the Midwest Mediation Training Center in Fort Wayne and is co-founder of a Web site called Eldercare Mediators.com. “Families are typically pretty bad off before they hire us.”

via Elder-care mediators help resolve feuds.