Career Path Guide
A career as a divorce mediator could be a great fit for you if you have a keen sense of fair play, patience, and an interest in helping people find mutually agreeable solutions to their personal problems.
This field can offer excellent pay, as well as a chance to put your skills in conflict management, active listening, and counseling to use.
Read on below to find out more about the ins and outs of this career; we’ll fill you in on all the details, including an overview of what you would be doing, how much you could earn, and what you’ll need to break into this field!
Education, Experience & Training Needed
There is no one set educational path for becoming a divorce mediator, but most who become mediators have a professional background in areas that deal with counseling and conflict management, such as:
• Law
• Human resources
• Social work
• Counseling
• Psychology
While professional experience in these areas can be highly beneficial, it is also strongly recommended to pursue training in conflict management. Many provinces and states have professional associations in the above-mentioned fields that offer conflict management training programs.
What is a Divorce Mediator?
A divorce mediator is someone who acts as a neutral party to help negotiate agreements over sensitive issues that arise during a divorce, such as parenting, communication, child support, spousal support (i.e. alimony) and division of assets and debts.
They may be full-time mediators, or they may work in other professions, and contract out their mediation services on a case-by-case basis.
General Job Description of a Divorce Mediator
As a divorce mediator, you would be responsible for using conflict resolution techniques to facilitate communication among couples that are divorcing. It would be your job to help disputants clarify their issues, identify underlying concerns, and develop a better understanding of their respective needs and interests.
It’s important to note, that you would be helping the disputants reach mutually satisfactory agreements, not deciding the outcomes of the issues for them.
Typical Job Duties
Although your job duties could vary from job to job, and from case to case, you would generally be responsible for performing the following duties:
• Interviewing parties involved in disputes in order to assess potential for settlement or resolution
• Helping disputing parties arrive at mutually acceptable resolutions
• Presenting written reports to attorneys on behalf of the parties regarding the agreements reached as a result of the mediation
• Assessing families for referral to appropriate community resources
• Preparing written recommendations and evaluations to the Court in child custody and visitation cases, guardianships and stepparent adoptions
• Preparing and maintaining comprehensive case file and reports
Is Divorce Mediation Right for You?
Divorce mediation can be very simple or incredibly frustrating and emotionally draining, for the divorcing couple as well for you, the mediator. To survive the ups and downs of working in this field, you’ll need to have certain personal traits, as well as professional interests and skills:
• Patience
• A neutral, unbiased attitude and a strong sense of fair play
• The ability to develop rapport with all kinds of people
• Active listening skills
• The ability to pose questions effectively and tactfully
• Discretion, for keeping personal and sensitive information confidential
• A strong intellect, for analyzing problems, and identifying and separating the issues involved
• Creativity, for helping disputants identify mutually acceptable solutions
Who Employs Divorce Mediators?
As a divorce mediator, you could be employed on a part-time, full-time, or contractual basis by a variety of organizations, including:
• Family law offices
• Mediation centres
• Social services
• Self-employment
Average Salary Level in This Profession
The salary level you could earn as a divorce mediator can vary, depending on the following factors:
• Your level of education
• Your level of experience
• The size and type of your employer (including self-employment)
• Whether you work part-time or full-time
• What your occupational background is (for example, if you are also a lawyer)
• The region in which you work
Divorce Mediator Salary - Canada: According to the 2018 Alberta Wage and Salary Survey, Albertans working in the Family, Marriage and Other Related Counsellors occupational group earn an average salary of $60,658 per year. Unfortunately, no similar statistics were available from reliable sources for other Canadian provinces or territories as of the time of writing (June 19, 2019).
Divorce Mediator Salary - United States: According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary level of Americans working in the Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators occupational group is $57,180 per year.
Divorce Mediator Jobs
Our job board below has divorce mediator postings in your area (or your desired area of) Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, when available:
Work Environment for Divorce Mediators
As a divorce mediator, your work may take place in a variety of physical settings. You may be based out of an office, but conduct meetings anywhere and at any time that is acceptable to all parties concerned.
Your work might be full-time, although it is possible to work part-time as a divorce mediator.
Similar Occupational Profiles in Our Database
Listed below are occupations in our database that have similar responsibilities, and/or require similar skills, or be in the same sector of industry, as 'divorce mediator':
• Lawyer
References
Please consult the following resources to learn more about the various aspects of a career as a divorce mediator.
Occupations in Alberta: “Mediator.” (March 31, 2019). ALIS website - Alberta Learning Information Service. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
Legal: “Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators.” (September 4, 2019). Occupational Outlook Handbook - United States Bureau of Labor Statistics website. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
National Occupational Classification: “Family, marriage and other related counsellors.” (n.d.). Statistics Canada website. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
Scholarships for Becoming a Divorce Mediator
The 'Applicable Majors' section below shows fields of study that pertain to this profession. You can search for scholarships matched to those fields of study on the following pages:
Success Tip: Be sure to apply for any scholarships that you even barely qualify for, as there are millions of dollars of scholarships that go unused every year due to a lack of applicants!
Applicable Majors
Studying one of the college/university majors listed below can be helpful (or are necessary) for becoming a divorce mediator. Click on the links to find out what else you can do with these majors!
