ARTICLE

Why Mediations Fail

A mediation that collapses at four in the afternoon did not fail that afternoon. Six structural causes, every one of them set in the weeks before anyone walks in: the unprepared neutral, the decision-maker who stayed home, the client whose expectations were never tested, and the day that ended too soon. And what a prepared mediation looks like instead.

James W. Fuhrmeister READ THE ARTICLE →

ARTICLE

When to Mediate

The usual answer is: after discovery closes. In estate and trust litigation that answer is usually expensive. Why the real test is not whether discovery is complete but whether the parties know enough to negotiate responsibly, which cases genuinely should wait, and what a date on the calendar does long before anyone sits down.

James W. Fuhrmeister READ THE ARTICLE →

ARTICLE

What an Expensive Mediator Is For

On the economics of resolving high-value estate and trust disputes: what a premium mediator’s fee actually buys, measured against multi-counsel litigation, a frozen estate, a public record, and the family itself. An estate worth fighting over is an estate worth resolving well.

James W. Fuhrmeister READ THE ARTICLE →

ARTICLE

Why Confidentiality Matters

When a contested estate or trust dispute goes to court, the record is public and stays that way. Why mediation’s statutory confidentiality (Ala. Code § 6-6-20 et seq.) is not a technicality but the whole point — and one of the quiet reasons it serves families, fiduciaries, and institutional trustees better than a courtroom.

James W. Fuhrmeister READ THE ARTICLE →

ARTICLE

Why I Mediate in Person

In probate, estate, and trust disputes the real conflict is rarely only about money. Why these matters are best resolved face to face — reading what goes unspoken, managing grief and long-held family tension, and giving families a path back from litigation.

James W. Fuhrmeister READ THE ARTICLE →

ARTICLE

Early Dispute Resolution as an Alternative to Traditional Mediation

A structured, mediator-led alternative to traditional mediation that resolves civil disputes before, or in the earliest stages of, litigation. A four-step process, the role of the decision tree and risk-adjusted value, and why good-faith participation is the condition.

James W. Fuhrmeister READ THE ARTICLE →