Looking Back at 2025: Changing Trends in Mediation Clientele

Each year at the Centre for Mediation and Dispute Resolution, we look back at our client population, seeking to detect patterns, changes, and even trends.  In 2025, as in the years since 2020, video conferencing has continued to appeal to clients, even as in-person mediation has increased in popularity.

Remote mediation presents advantages that cannot be ignored.  Scheduling sessions are easier, since clients can elect times that can be squeezed in between working hours, children’s school hours, and personal commitments, all without the additional time and cost of travel.  Others prefer not having to be in the same room with co- participants.  And, then, too, some clients chose a hybrid approach: in person for some sessions and remote for others.

Undoubtedly remote mediation is here to stay; it offers an alternative to the traditional in-person format, an opportunity to mediate despite restrictions imposed by time and distance constraints. The mediation population has likewise expanded with an increase in the number of individuals who have become knowledgeable about the process, a process facilitated by convenient and varied modes of accessibility.

In 2025, we observed the following trends:

FROM OUR SEPARATING, DIVORCING AND POST DIVORCE CLIENTS:

•An increased number of clients with family-owned businesses constituting an asset to be considered in the division of marital assets and support obligations;

•An increased number of marital assets with unknown present day value, requiring agreements based on division “if and when of value in the future;

•A continuation of the trend retaining the marital home under joint ownership for a specified period of time;

•An increased number of mediations in which one spouse has become unexpectedly unemployed;

•An increased number of clients structuring installment buyouts of the marital home;

•A continuation of the so-called “gray divorce” with clients deciding to divorce as they approach retirement or are already retired;

•An increased number of clients with child support agreements that deviate from Massachusetts Guidelines;

•An increased number of couples with significant age differentials, affecting one’s need for support and the other’s ability to pay;

•A continuation of the trend of couples mediating prenuptials agreements;

•An increase in divorce agreements dealing with inherited assets; and

•An increase in the number of unmarried couples who enter mediation to reach agreement on child-related issues as well as jointly owned assets.

FROM OUR BUSINESS CLIENTS:

•An increased number of mediations among long-held businesses with no provisions for exit terms and/or exit strategies;

•An increase in mediations involving parent and adult child(ren) working in the family business without written agreements on ownership, compensation, and /or succession;

•An increase in mediations with business partners, needing to re-negotiate contractual provisions for retirement as partners age;

•An increase in the use of mediation as a tool to deal with personality clashes between key employees; and

•An increase in the use of mediation to resolve conflicts in condominium associations.

FROM OUR FAMILY MEDIATION CLIENTS:

•A continuation of the trend to use mediation as vehicle to resolve conflicts between siblings dealing with estate settlements;

•A continuation of the trend to use mediation to resolve disagreements pertaining to the oversight and care of aging parents;

•An increase in the number of disputes among family members who own and operate a family business;

•An increase in the number of families who employ mediation to deal with relationship issues between parents, adult children, and grand children; and

•A continuation of the trend to use mediation to work through terms for siblings’ ownership of vacation homes.

In summary, whether in-person or remote, mediation offers participants the opportunity to express their needs, concerns, and priorities in a safe and confidential environment.  Collaboration is the hallmark of mediation, a process built on each party’s openness to listening to each other and to working together to resolve old issues and prevent new ones from developing.  With the facilitation of a skilled and knowledgeable mediator, the end result should be fair and workable for all parties.

Lynne Halem

Dr. Lynne C. Halem is the director at the Centre for Mediation & Dispute Resolution in Wellesley, MA. Dr. Halem has worked in the mediation field since 1982. She is on the Family Dispute Service Panel of the American Arbitration Association and a past board member of the Divorce Center,… MORE