Resolve Holiday Custody Issues in Advance,
says South Florida Mediation Expert
Expert family mediator gives advice on ending parental disputes over the
holidays so the fun and excitment of the season can be enjoyed. Give your
kids a great gift this season. Several practical tips provided by nationally
known family mediator. Mediation Inc has been providing free one hour
holiday custody sessions for the last ten years.
Fort Lauderdale, FL (PRWEB) November 26, 2005 -- It’s an all too
familiar scene for the holidays: a divorced mom and dad fighting over
how their child will spend the holidays. For the child caught in the middle,
such a parental dispute can ruin the fun and excitement of the season,
according to Fort Lauderdale attorney Michael J. Carbo, a Certified Family
Mediator with more than 30 years of experience in resolving differences
as an impartial third party.
“There is no better gift than to have both parents call a temporary
truce for the holidays,” says Carbo, who has mediated cases for
the Fort Lauderdale firm Mediation, Inc. “There is no question that
one of the best gifts you can give your child is to resolve these highly
emotional issues in advance.”
Carbo has some other practical advice for divorced or separated parents:
• If you can't agree on a holiday schedule, at least agree to discuss
your disagreements. A compromise solution may be closer than you think.
•Allow your child to spend time with each parent on the actual holiday,
if possible.
• Divide the year-end school break in roughly equal halves. Or,
if one parent has travel plans for the holidays, perhaps an “every-other-year”
custody arrangement would be suitable.
•Consider giving a joint gift from both parents to show your child
that he or she always comes first.
• Don't lock in your holiday plans before discussing them with the
other parent. A little flexibility goes a long way to resolving problems.
• If you can’t resolve your custody issues, consider professional
mediation. Usually, it’s best for the parents to come without their
child.
For the past ten years, Mediation, Inc. has assisted the parents of children
caught in the middle of a custody dispute during the holiday season. “We
have donated up to one full hour per case to help resolve scheduling disputes
or other matters related to the holidays,” says Carbo. Mediation
is an informal, voluntary process intended to settle conflicts without
resorting to litigation or arbitration. Both parties must agree to attend
such a mediation session or be ordered to do so by the court.
“Mike Carbo gets parents to cooperate at parenting better than anyone
I have ever seen,” says Dr. Joel Klass, a highly respected South
Florida psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who has referred child custody
clients to Carbo for nearly 20 years. “He has the wisdom of experience
and the courage to apply it effectively with warring couples,” says
Klass.
Carbo recently appeared on the “Dr. Phil Show,” a CBS television
program hosted by Dr. Phil McGraw, Ph.D. to help settle a custody case
that had dragged on for seven years. Both sides were so surprised by the
mediated resolution that they hailed Carbo’s solution as “nothing
short of miraculous.”
In an international child abduction case from Great Britain, Carbo gained
notoriety for litigating a child custody matter that gained global recognition
when a Florida Court was first asked to implement the provisions of the
Hague Convention. Michael solved the case and the children went back home
to England.
Carbo – who is Florida Bar Board Certified in the area of Family
and Marital Law – is also a Circuit Civil Mediator, former Family
Magistrate 17th Judicial Circuit, and a former president of the Broward
County Bar Association. For more information, call 954-764-1000.Website:
mediationinc.com