Rachel Alexander, ESQ.
Settlement Agreements
Alexander Mediation Group is a professional divorce mediation firm serving couples and families throughout New Jersey, New York City, and the Hamptons. Our mediator can help you work through your divorce's financial, emotional, and legal issues.
Rachel Alexander, ESQ.
Alexander Mediation Group
Rachel Alexander is a family law attorney and professional mediator specializing in family-related matters. For over 20 years, Rachel has handled various family law cases, including divorce, child custody, child support, prenuptial agreements, and more. Learn more about Rachel.
Settlement Agreement Mediation for Clear Written Decisions
Resolve Divorce Details Before Drafting the Agreement
Divorce Mediation empowers spouses to resolve the issues that must appear in their Divorce Settlement Agreement before an uncontested divorce can be granted. The mediator helps parties identify open issues and resolve them. The spouses explore possible arrangements to arrive at terms consistent with their values and priorities. The mediator provides information and guidance to assist the parties in making their own informed decisions.
Alexander Mediation Group also offers assistance for parties who completed mediation elsewhere and require a mediation-friendly attorney to review an agreement or draft a legal Settlement Agreement from a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The parties always review and approve the completed draft before signing it and filing divorce documents with the court.
Document Property, Support, and Parenting Responsibilities
A written divorce agreement may be called a Property Settlement Agreement, Marital Settlement Agreement, or Stipulation of Settlement. Each document records the spouses’ decisions and states the provisions they will follow. Each state dictates specific requirements for divorce agreements. The procedure and filing are likewise dictated by each state. New York primarily uses the term Stipulation of Settlement for divorce agreements, while New Jersey uses the terms Property Settlement Agreement and Marital Settlement Agreement interchangeably.
Financial provisions may address issues related to the marital home, other real estate, personal property, retirement assets, businesses, debt, spousal support, and insurance. Parenting provisions may address child custody, parenting time, child support, college costs, and transportation for the children.
The drafting process should also account for connections among the decisions. A parenting schedule may affect child support or transportation responsibilities. A decision about the marital home may affect each household’s budget or a related support arrangement.
Address Financial Responsibilities Before or During Marriage
A Prenuptial Agreement allows a couple to address property, debt, and selected financial responsibilities before marriage. A Postnuptial Agreement addresses issues that arise any time after the marriage has begun.
Mediation gives both people an active role in developing the agreement. Parties exchange financial information and discuss individual and shared priorities. They review proposed resolutions and only sign an agreement once they are comfortable with all its terms.
Prenuptial Agreements and Postnuptial Agreements apply at different stages of a marriage. Like a Settlement Agreement Mediation, each requires mediated discussions tailored to the couple’s unique circumstances.
Review the Settlement Agreement Before Signing and Filing
Both parties review the draft Settlement Agreement with the mediator, receive copies and have the time they need to review it. Alexander Mediation Group meets with them to discuss corrections and proposed revisions. If any issue remains unresolved, parties return to mediation before the agreement is signed.
Alexander Mediation Group recommends that each person consult a separate, mediation-friendly review attorney. The mediator serves as an unbiased, neutral professional, working on behalf of wholistic resolution between the parties. A review attorney advises one person about their individual rights and interests.
After the parties approve and sign the final agreement, Alexander Mediation Group assists with preparing and filing all related documents required for the parties to obtain an Uncontested Divorce.
Modify the Settlement Agreement When Circumstances Change
An existing Divorce Settlement Agreement may no longer reflect the equitable agreement intended should the family’s circumstances dramatically change. Income or employment may significantly change in unforeseen, unimagined ways. A parent may be required to relocate or risk unemployment. Because life is dynamic and sometimes chaotic, an agreement can be adapted to reflect a changed reality.
Post-Divorce Mediation allows former spouses to discuss changed circumstances and how those circumstances impact a party’s ability to meet an obligation set forth in the original agreement. Parties then determine how to best meet each party’s needs while adjusting to a significant change. The mediator helps parties consider how the proposed change may affect the rest of the agreement, and make other changes if necessary.
The parties may need a focused amendment or a broader Modification Agreement. Alexander Mediation Group can prepare and file the revised document when necessary.
Monthly Divorce Support Groups
A welcoming space for individuals navigating divorce, separation, or the contemplation of significant relationship change.
Settlement Agreement FAQ
What Does a Divorce Settlement Agreement Include?
A Divorce Settlement Agreement may address property, debt, and spousal support. It may also address child custody, parenting time, child support, insurance, college costs, transportation, and other family-specific responsibilities.
The agreement should state the amounts, schedules, responsibilities, deadlines, and conditions on which the parties rely. The exact content of an agreement depends on the family and the decisions required to complete the divorce.
What Is the Difference Between a Property Settlement Agreement, Marital Settlement Agreement, and Stipulation of Settlement?
A Property Settlement Agreement, Marital Settlement Agreement, and Stipulation of Settlement are names used for written divorce agreements. Each address the complete set of decisions required for the divorce.
The document title, format and content depend on the jurisdiction (New Jersey or New York).
Are Verbal or Side Agreements Enforceable?
A verbal promise or side agreement is unenforceable when not included in the controlling Settlement Agreement. Anything relied upon must be written into the agreement.
Should a Settlement Agreement Attorney Review the Draft?
Alexander Mediation Group recommends that each person consult a separate, mediation-friendly review attorney before signing the final Settlement Agreement.
The mediator remains neutral. A review attorney advises one person about their individual rights and interests. The parties may return to mediation if a proposed revision creates questions or a new disagreement.
Can a Divorce Settlement Agreement Be Modified After Divorce?
Yes. Changed circumstances may require former spouses to revise part of their Divorce Settlement Agreement.
Post-Divorce Mediation allows them to discuss the proposed change and its effect on the complete agreement. If they agree, Alexander Mediation Group can prepare a Modification Agreement, amendment, or addendum and file it with the court when necessary.
Subscribe to Our Monthly Newsletter
When navigating the unfamiliar terrain of divorce, it’s important to be accompanied by both fellow voyagers and expert guides.
By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Alexander Mediation Group, 37 Bay View Drive East, Sag Harbor, NY 11963, United States. You can revoke your consent to receive marketing emails at any time using the SafeUnsubscribe® link found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact. Our Privacy Policy.
Settlement Agreement Resources
50-50 parenting still requires 100% from both parents
Custody can be a loaded term, filled with implicit threats of loss — loss of control, loss of time, and loss of one’s children. Custody, both a legal and colloquial term, can render images of wailing children wrenched from the arms of panicking parents. One of my tasks as a mediator is to challenge antiquated, […]
What About the Pets?
What about the pets? It's not a foregone conclusion that separation or divorce means divorcing or forsaking your pet. That would be too heartbreaking for words, is avoidable, and is therefore unacceptable. Pets are a topic that folks often raise sheepishly, appreciating that when it comes to matrimonial law, divorce, and equitable distribution, animals are […]
Is This Marriage Viable & How to Evaluate
Couples’ counselor Meredith Keller explains how the willingness to discuss difficult relationship issues can help determine whether a marriage is viable. She also examines the important difference between an unwillingness to communicate and a lack of communication skills.
Are We as Modern as We Think? Gender Role Reversal in Divorce Doesn’t Necessarily Add Up
What happens when the father is the stay-at-home spouse and the mother is the primary earner? Can we simply swap out the term husband for wife and expect an equitable outcome? Let’s see. In cases where the mother is the stay-at-home parent and the father is the full-time working parent, the children typically reside with […]
Status Quo
to the best of your ability, keep on keeping on. Status quo has an important legal meaning for people going through a divorce. Status quo, meaning “the existing state of affairs,” informs divorcing parties what they are expected to do while they are in the process of divorcing. This interim time, the pendente lite period (pendency of […]
Don’t Weaponize the Children
In a recent divorce negotiation, a father raised several concerns about entering into a custody and parenting agreement for their nine-year-old son. His concerns are both legitimate and pertinent to most divorcing couples who are also parents of young children. Below are two of his concerns with my responses. Father’s Concern: “If I agree to […]
A Couple Walked Into a Marriage Counselor: The Problem & The Solution
Couples often struggle when one or both partners expect the other to manage their difficult emotions. Marriage counselor Meredith Keller explains how personal responsibility, space for both voices, and healthier communication can help couples respond more constructively.
The Good News About Infidelity – Parts 1 – 3
This article, part of the series with our partner and friend, couples therapist Meredith Keller, LPC, ACS, explores unfaithfulness and infidelity, challenging the misconception that they always necessitate the end of a marriage. While an affair usually signals marital issues requiring attention, infidelity need not necessitate divorce. There has long been the belief that divorce is the […]
Gottman: “Oh S^%&T, Your Marriage Is in Trou-ble”
In this article, we continue our series with colleague Meredith Keller, LPC, ACS, couples’ therapist, who explores with us the primary reasons couples come to her in the first place. Meredith identifies one of the primary issues in struggling marriages as this: one or both parties are unable to monitor – and moderate – their own […]
Preventing Trauma – A Guide
Because trauma is painful, complex, and difficult to resolve, what can we do to prevent it? How can we intervene in the place between hurt and harm? This is the space where we can make a difference. The healing is in the quality of listening. The power is in the relating. The same unhappy event […]