Same-Sex Dispute

     What an interesting mediation I had with Jennifer, Stacy and Stacy's mom. This was not a family mediation but rather a small claims court law suit, but it had family issues written all over it. What seemed to start out as a simple landlord/tenant lawsuit ended up completely different.
Let me just preface this by saying that I am very blessed to be a professional peacemaker and love what I do. I have been through a lot in my life but rather than bitch and wine over it, I have learned from it and turned it from what could have been a mistake into a very valuable life lesson. I am now able to help others as they face similar issues from different perspectives.
   Back to the story. So Jennifer and Stacy were dating for 3 years. Stacy and her mom needed to move and they found a condo that they liked and asked Jennifer if she would like to move in. Jennifer and Stacy had a room and Stacy's mom had the other room. All three were signatures on the lease with the condo community as the landlord. The lease was for 12 months. Two months into the 12, Jennifer and Stacy split and Jennifer moved out. Stacy and her mom stayed in the condo.
     Stacy and her mom sued Jennifer for breach of contract since she moved out 10 months early leaving them to cover the rent. Instead of things being split 3 ways, now it was 2 and more difficult. After spending hundreds of dollars to file the suit, the three women waited a year to finally arrive in court with yours truly at the helm. There was a lot of emotion in the room between Jennifer and Stacy. Stacy was visibly upset since in these tough economic times, she was forced to cover her ex-girlfriend's portion. Jennifer had moved out and had moved on relationship wise and before I could do my thing and mediate the money issues, I had to mediate the feelings between Jennifer and Stacy.
     Many times in mediation, it is not possible to jump right into the issue and get things settled. Like I mentioned in my very first blog, people have disputes because they feel Dismissed, Disenfranchised, Disrespected and/or Dis-valued. Stacy felt all of these and was not ready to listen to a word I had to say until these things could be addressed. THANK GOD I AM A FAMILY MEDIATOR and these girls were lucky they didn't get just a small claims mediator. This case would not have settled and would have proceeded to court.
     Long story endless, once I could mediate the feelings, we were able to mediate the issues and a settlement was reached where both parties were content and able to move forward with their lives.

iChat Mediation invites you to come and learn more about having either your divorce conducted by one of our State Supreme Court Certified mediators or how you can become part of the most cutting edge virtual companies in the world. To learn more visit us online at http://www.ichatmediation.com or call us at 877-822-1479.

In the words of Lawton Chiles, “I didn’t come to stay, I came to make a difference.”