FAQ

• Small Claims Cases
• Landlord/Tenant Cases
• Civil Cases
• Family and Divorce cases
• Adult Guardianship cases
• Child Permanency cases
• Real Estate cases
• Community Disputes
• Neighbor Disputes

Your mediator will talk you through the process, including some ground rules for participation and the steps you’ll follow to complete the mediation.  You will be able to speak without interruption to the mediator and not to each other (this helps to prevent arguments).  Once the issues to be discussed have been identified, the mediator will guide you through a problem-solving process to explore and clarify the options and choices you have to resolve any dispute over an issue.  As you reach an agreement, the mediator will write it up in a Memorandum of Understanding (family case) and you will receive a copy.  This unsigned document can be used by either attorney to prepare the court documents necessary to finalize your divorce.  In a civil case the parties will sign the Agreement form.

In general, a divorce involves decisions regarding the division of property, assets, debts, and, when children are involved, how decisions will be made in their best interest and how they will spend time in both households.  Your attorney will help you review and prepare for working with these issues to determine what documentation or other information to bring to mediation. If you don’t have an attorney, we can review with you what kind of information you may need to bring when you have your pre-mediation interview. 

It is normal to have some anxiety or worry about talking about conflicts as directly as you will in mediation.  However, if those feelings become too strong, they can interfere with your judgement and decision-making as you work with the mediator to come to an agreement.  Your mediator is trained to manage these kinds of feelings and will prevent them from escalating, so please cooperate with the mediator in keeping the tone and atmosphere as civil as possible.  You may always take a short break to talk with your attorney or meet with the mediator privately if this will help you to focus on the choices under discussion instead of the feelings they may stir up.

A 15-member Dispute Resolution Advisory Board appointed by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma serves in an advisory role to the Administrative Director of the Courts who oversees the Alternative Dispute Resolution System. The State Director of the Alternative Dispute Resolution System manages the program operations which are based out of the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Yes, all seventy-seven (77) Oklahoma Counties are served by an Early Settlement Mediation regional program.  You can click on the county listed on the virtual map and it will give you contact information about the Early Settlement Program that serves your county.

It is FREE!  The Early Settlement Mediation programs are FREE of charge and available to all Oklahomans involved in a conflict or dispute.  If you have an attorney, discuss with them any fees or costs they may have to participate with you in the mediation.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer mediator for the Early Settlement Mediation program, please reach out to the regional Early Settlement Mediation program which serves the area you live or work for more information.

There is NO cost if you are selected to be trained as a Volunteer Early Settlement Mediator; however, you are required to volunteer for ten (10) hours per year for two (2) years if you are trained as a basic civil mediator.  If you are selected to train as a Volunteer Early Settlement Family Mediator, you are required to volunteer for forty (40) hours per year for two (2) years.

No, for quality and consistency purposes, attending the Alternative Dispute Resolution System training is mandatory prior to placement as an Early Settlement Volunteer Mediator.  

It is good for one (1) year after you are certified by the Early Settlement Mediation program.  After that, the basic civil mediation certification is renewable annually when you complete ten (10) hours of satisfactory service as a volunteer for Early Settlement Mediation and forty (40) hours of satisfactory service as a family volunteer. 

Yes, anyone can start a mediation business in Oklahoma; however, you would need to market your own services.  The majority of private for-fee mediators in Oklahoma are attorneys.  The Alternative Dispute Resolution System only trains and certifies mediators who give of their time to volunteer for the Early Settlement Mediation regional programs located around Oklahoma.  We do not train private for-fee mediators.

There are many professional trainers who offer mediation training both locally and around the United States.  It is always wise to explore all of your options before paying for the training.

Being ordered to mediation means the Judge has directed you to meet with a neutral mediator to seek a resolution as an alternative to pursuing a trial.  You are expected to ATTEND the scheduled mediation and cooperate with the program staff and your attorney (if you have one) in preparing for the mediation session; however, your PARTICIPATION in the mediation session is VOLUNTARY.  You are not required to reach an agreement or settlement and may withdraw from mediation at any time.  This means your case will go back to the Judge to make the final decision you were unable to make in mediation.  Your options may become limited at this point.

Your mediation is just as private, confidential and protected as any conversation you have with an attorney you’ve hired.  Our program staff does not share your contact information or any details from your pre-mediation interview with anybody outside the program.  You are encouraged to take notes during the mediation (especially when you’re feeling pressure to respond to something being said and can’t interrupt the person talking), but the mediator will take up the notes from everyone at the session and shred them.  The only documentation of the results of your mediation will be in unsigned Memorandum of Understanding and the brief checklist report to the Judge that the mediation took place and there was or was not an Agreement.  Neither of these documents are entered into the court record available to the public. 

The bottom line is that, by law, nothing you say or share in mediation can be referred to or used against you by anybody involved in the mediation in any subsequent legal proceedings.  

If you have an attorney, they can coordinate schedules and complete the Intake for you.  If you don’t have an attorney, please complete the Intake form under the forms heading on your own, providing the necessary case information and contact details.  Please contact your regional Early Settlement Mediation program office for assistance. 

Early Settlement Mediation programs can provide online mediation sessions in certain circumstances, such as the parties living far apart.  We require these online mediations be requested in advance so that we can complete the technical requirements to prepare for such a session.  Our programs use secure sites – Webex or TEAMS – for online sessions and you will receive an email invitation from the virtual site, as well as a confirmation packet by email from the program, describing how to prepare and access the session online.  BE AWARE that you will be required to complete the Consent and Confidentiality forms in advance.  When the mediation starts you must be in a confidential location without others present other than your attorney so no one can overhear you. 

The local Early Settlement program office will assign a certified mediator for your case.  Early Settlement mediators are volunteers from the community that have completed an extensive, multi-day training in Civil and Family/Divorce Mediation.  This training is followed by a number of co-mediations with an experienced mediator, until the volunteer is certified by their Program Director to mediate independently. 

You will receive an email from the regional Early Settlement Mediation program conducting your mediation with the time and location for your mediation and instructions for completing the Consent to Mediate and Confidentiality forms online and participating in a Pre-Mediation interview with program staff before the scheduled mediation (family cases only).  Several documents to assist you in preparing for the mediation will be attached to the email.  You will also receive a reminder email in the days prior to the mediation.  (These emails may be routed to a SPAM folder by your internet provider, so check there if they are not in your email inbox.)

The Early Settlement Mediation programs are committed to making sure that your mediation will be as successful as possible.  Speaking to the participants individually and privately gives you the opportunity to ask questions about mediation and what to expect, while we are able to identify any issues that may affect the safety and success of the mediation.  Be assured that these interviews are confidential, and no information obtained from these discussions is shared with any other parties to the mediation.  This pre-mediation interview is so important that your mediation may be cancelled if it is not completed prior to the mediation date.

Before participating in a Mediation with Early Settlement, it is vitally important that you are fully informed and have given your consent to the mediation process.  A Consent to Mediate and Confidentiality Acknowledgement form is available to you by following the identified link on the webpage of the program conducting your mediation.  This form describes in detail the features of mediation, the nature of the confidentiality you are provided in mediation, and the roles and expectations of any other parties participating in the mediation.  By completing this form before your scheduled mediation, you will be better informed about what to expect and how you are protected in mediation, as well as able to get into the process right away.  If you have any questions or concerns, contact your regional Early Settlement Mediation program office for assistance.

It is our expectation that you will spend most, if not all, of the mediation together in the same room with your attorneys (if you have an attorney).  You may always take a short break to talk with your attorney or meet with the mediator privately if this will help you to share information important to you in order to focus on the choices under discussion.  If you meet with the mediator privately, a private meeting will also be held with the other party so that what we provide for one party is available to the other party as well.  The mediator will discuss with you privately how to bring an issue or proposal back to your work together in the same room. 

In some circumstances, the mediator can communicate between the parties as they remain separate from each other.  In this case, the mediator will discuss with you what information or proposals you wish to be communicated to the other party and provide to you the response the other party has authorized them to share.  To maintain your confidentiality, only what you authorize will be shared by the mediator with the other party.

You are not required to have an attorney with you in mediation, but you will need to consult an attorney to be sure that your divorce decree is acceptable for the Judge’s review (if it is a family case).  In some cases, one party will have an attorney while the other party is not represented by counsel.  There are rules governing that attorney’s role in the mediation that are spelled out in the Consent to Mediate and Confidentiality Acknowledgement form you can complete online.  If you have any specific questions or concerns, you can discuss them with the Early Settlement Mediation program staff during your pre-mediation interview (if a family case) or call the regional Early Settlement Program office at any time before your mediation.

You are free to have anyone come to mediation with you for support, but they may only participate in the actual mediation with the consent of the other party.  If they are not able to be with you during the mediation, you can always ask for a short break to meet with them outside the mediation room.

A well-trained and certified support animal may accompany you to the mediation, but a pet that may be disruptive or draw your attention away from the discussion in mediation will be discouraged.

Childcare is not provided at your mediation session.  Mediations are scheduled for a three (3) hour block of time, so we ask that you make arrangements for minor child(ren) to be supervised by someone else while you are in mediation.

If you do not attend a scheduled mediation ordered by the court, our program will provide a brief checklist report to the Judge indicating that one or both party(s) did not appear.  We will not identify you to the Judge as the party that did not attend, but that does not mean that the Judge won’t be made aware of your absence by the other party or their attorney.  

We understand that a whole range of things can happen to prevent you from attending a scheduled mediation.  We ask that you notify the Early Settlement Mediation program staff by phone as soon as you are aware you can’t make it, so we can pass this information along to the volunteer mediator assigned to your case.  You will be notified by our program staff by phone or email if the mediation is cancelled by the other party.  A cancelled mediation may be rescheduled at the discretion of each program, but repeated cancellations may result in the closure of your case with Early Settlement and sent back to court for a trial.

If you are not successful in reaching an agreement in mediation, you will be referred back to court for the Judge to decide what happens next in your case.

If you reach an agreement, you will receive an unsigned copy of the Memorandum of Understanding documenting your agreement (if a family case) or a signed agreement form (if a civil case). Consult with your attorney or the court clerk for more information on how to proceed with getting your case back before the Judge.  You may have an agreement to meet in mediation again to finalize your case at a later date, in which case you or your attorney may work with the Early Settlement program staff to schedule a subsequent mediation. 

The program will send a brief checklist report to the Judge in your case reporting attendance and the outcome of your mediation (Agreement, Partial Agreement, or No Agreement).  Please complete a feedback survey with a link provided by Early Settlement.  This can be done on a computer or cell phone.

Your divorce can now be finalized by the Judge’s review of a Divorce Decree that both of you have signed.  The details in this case will be spelled out in the unsigned Memorandum of Understanding.  Your attorney will advise you of the steps still to be taken to put your divorce in your rear-view mirror! If you’ve reached a Full Agreement – CONGRATULATIONS! 

If you have a concern about how a mediation is going, you’re encouraged to speak with the mediator privately so that your concerns can be addressed, and the mediation can go forward.  If you are still not satisfied, you may withdraw from the mediation with your attorney’s agreement (if you have an attorney).  You may contact the Early Settlement Mediation Program Director who supervises your mediator to discuss your concerns.  There is a formal complaint procedure that is described in the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of the Oklahoma Legislature which established the Early Settlement Mediation Programs.