Simone is a certified mediator and a trainer who teaches other attorneys and professionals mediation skills, as well as, more recently, the St. Louis City Police Department of Public Safety. She is an Adjunct Professor teaching mediation at Saint Louis University School of Law. She earned her J.D. (cum laude) from Saint Louis Unversity School of Law in 1992 and received her graduate of laws (LL.M.) degree in dispute resolution (mediation and ADR), in 2013 from University of Missouri School of Law. Mediation and arbitration are not just another service offered in her office. Simone has spent thousands of hours developing her skills and structuring a unique process that helps clients work constructively together to develop reasonable plans for their divorce or separation, including workable financial outcomes. She has mediated hundreds of cases successfully; provided training in parenting coordination and mediation; and speaks regularly, statewide and nationally, on topics related to conflict, dispute resolution, negotiation and mediation. She has contributed in the development of specific court-connected ADR programs in several jurisdictions, including parenting coordination and volunteer mediation; and produced academic research in parenting coordination.
As a certified public accountant, Simone frequently uses financial planning tools to support clients in mediation in better understanding the financial options.
Mediation
- Mediation is a confidential process where a neutral mediator assists disputing parties reach an agreement. Mediation can be ordered by the court in certain situations but is also frequently used by agreement of the parties, often before action is taken at court. Mediation is also used to solve problems that will never become court actions such as family, organizational and community problems.
- A mediator does not and should not make decisions for the parties and should ensure that there is a reasonable exchange of information; that both parties feel heard and understood; that the process is fair and both parties can participate in negotiations; that unreasonable positions are discussed in a safe manner; and that neither party feels that there is duress or unreasonable pressure applied to obtain an agreement.
- Mediators must stay neutral and cannot provide specific legal advice to either party and cannot take a side in the dispute.
- Research indicates that a significant number of people are able to reach agreement using mediation and that parties are usually more satisfied with a process where they feel heard; they participate directly in creating solutions; and where further damage to their relationship is prevented and where communication can be improved.
- Mediators use a number of negotiation and communication tools to help the parties understand and consider information. To help parties understand more complex or difficult information, mediators can also use financial planning tools, offer educational material, and bring other professionals with specific knowledge or expertise into the mediation process, such as mental health professionals, accountants, business valuation experts, financial planners, vocational coaches, and real estate professionals.
Documents related to Mediation:
Mediation Agreement
Contract for Mediation Services
Worksheets for Budget, Property and Debts
List of Documents to Assemble
FAQs for On-Line Mediation
This web site is designed for general information only. The information presented should not be construed as legal advice nor the formation of an attorney-client relationship. The choice of an attorney is an important decision and should not be based solely on advertisements.
Parenting Coordination
- Parenting Coordinators are appointed by the court to help parents who have a high degree of conflict manage communication; make decisions for their children; and interpret their parenting plan. Parenting Coordinators should have a firm understanding of both the legal process and the emotional and psychological factors of co-parenting relationships and conflict within a family. Many Parenting Coordinators have also had additional training in child development; family systems; individual, family and child psychology; chemical dependence and recovery; and the special education needs of children (including learning disabilities, IEPs, and the needs of neuro diverse children).
- Parenting Coordinators use different tools to help support parents including education, coaching, and mediation with the goal of helping parents reduce their conflict by creating new patterns of behavior so that their children can thrive.
- Parenting Coordinators are given limited authority to make decisions for parents when necessary but cannot make changes to the parenting plan itself. Most parenting coordinators will use coaching and mediation as tools to try to resolve a disagreement before making a decision. Decisions should always be made with “due process” (notice to the parties accompanied by an offer of a hearing process) and timely (by issuing a decision that can be reviewed by the court).
- The process of parenting coordination is usually tailored for the particular family and should consider concerns, such as a history of domestic violence, so that all members of the family feel safe.
Parenting Coordination Appointment Order (St. Louis County): St. Louis County JudgmentOrder Appointment Order (2)
Parenting Coordination Contract: PC Contract for St. Louis County 2019
Please contact our office for orders and contracts applicable in other counties/jurisdictions (office@haberstocklaw.com)
Special Master/Arbitration/Receiver Services
Parents and parties to litigation frequently have difficulty working out the math related to a variety of money transactions including income, taxes due, or shared expenses and resulting amounts amounts due for expenses incurred for children or property and debt transactions. Appointment of a Special Master or Arbitrator is one way to resolve these differences in a cost effective and time efficient way.
Special Masters are appointed by the Court for special tasks like preparing computations or an analysis of a complicated division of property, including recommendations regarding separate and marital property issues, business property, or accountings regarding the use of marital property. They can also prepare accountings and reconciliations of expenses or monies due between parties in enforcement or collection matters (for example reimbursements between co-parents). Special Masters can gather information and receive input from both parties; prepare a report (with or without recommendations), along with any related worksheets; and then submit conclusions to the court for review by the judge. Parties can raise any concerns or objections. This permits the judge to receive neutral information regarding the dispute, along with input from both parties, which can assist the judge in processing the information and reaching a conclusion. Special Masters can offer efficiency and time-savings by stream-lining information, assisting both sides in clarifying and understanding the information, and providing neutral, clear and specific information to the judge for consideration.
Arbitration is a formal process that can often look more like a hearing or trial and will usually adhere to the rules applied by the Missouri Arbitration Act. Arbitration can produce a binding decisions for certain issues but, pursuant to the Missouri Arbitration Act, cannot be binding when the issues concern parenting or custody of children. It differs from a Special Master Report because the opporutnities to challenge the decisions make by an arbitrator are more narrow. Arbitration can also offer both parties an opportunity to access a professional who may have more experience or expertise in complex matters.
Choices about which process a litigant considers should be discussed and explored with counsel before a referral to a specific service is made. Simone A. Haberstock is a CPA, a former accountant, and trained neutral who has experience establishing accounting systems, reconciling accounts, reviewing financial data (both business and personal), analyzing tax returns and wage/income information, and summarizing and reporting a variety of financial data. She has provided both arbitration decisions and special master services, including organizing, analyzing and providing reports and summaries for the court in cases with disputed money issues.
Please contact our office for more information regarding special master or arbitrator appointments and forms for this process.
Law Offices of Simone A. Haberstock, LLC 