Family money decisions, made with clarity.
For families navigating money disagreements, shared obligations, divorce-related finances, or inheritance concerns: decisions that need honest conversation and a clear, workable outcome.
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Family financial mediation is a structured conversation guided by a neutral mediator who helps family members work through money disagreements, shared obligations, and financial decisions that need clarity. The mediator does not decide who is right, and does not provide legal, tax, or financial advice. The family reaches its own practical agreements, with a calm structure that keeps the focus on facts and workable options.
Money is one of the most common sources of family conflict, and one of the hardest to talk about calmly. Whether it is dividing finances in a divorce, deciding how to support an aging parent, sorting out a shared property, or resolving tension over an inheritance, financial disagreements tend to carry years of history with them. When those conversations happen without structure, they often spiral into blame and stall out completely.
Mediation gives the conversation a different shape. A neutral mediator helps the people involved lay out the real numbers and obligations, separate the practical questions from the emotional ones, and work methodically toward agreements everyone can accept. Nobody is pressured into a result, and nothing is decided for you. The point is to reach clarity together, so decisions get made instead of endlessly reopened.
Financial mediation does not tell you what to do with your money. It gives your family a calm, organized way to talk about it, so you can reach a clear agreement instead of arguing in circles or paying two sides to fight it out.
Practical Family Mediation is led by Marissa Chen, J.D., a law-trained mediator whose background in family, business, and tax-related issues helps organize complex financial situations into workable parts. Importantly, the practice provides mediation, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and encourages participants to consult independent attorneys, accountants, or financial professionals about the specifics.
What family financial mediation helps you work through
Financial disagreements come in many forms. Mediation gives each of these its own calm, structured conversation:
- Divorce-related finances: untangling shared accounts, debts, and household finances as part of a separation, alongside independent legal advice.
- Shared family obligations: how relatives will split the cost of caring for a parent, supporting a family member, or maintaining a shared property.
- Inheritance-related money concerns: disagreements about how assets are handled or distributed, before they harden into a lasting rift.
- Jointly owned property: decisions about keeping, selling, or managing a home or other property that more than one family member has a stake in.
- Loans and money between relatives: clarifying expectations around money that was lent, gifted, or promised within the family.
- Ongoing financial decisions: recurring choices that require agreement, from household budgets to shared responsibilities that need a clear plan.
You do not need to arrive with the answers, or even with full agreement on the facts. Mediation is designed to work through disagreement in a setting built to keep the conversation grounded and practical.
A clear path, from first call to practical next steps.
A brief look at the process. For a fuller walkthrough, see how mediation works.
Private consultation
A confidential first conversation to understand your situation and whether mediation is a fit.
Issue review
We identify the real financial issues and what each person needs to feel the process is fair.
Session planning
We agree on how sessions will run so everyone knows what to expect.
Guided conversation
A structured, neutral discussion focused on facts and workable options, not blame.
Practical next steps
Clear, workable agreements you can act on, and take to independent advisors if you choose.
Family financial mediation across the San Fernando Valley
Practical Family Mediation works with families throughout the San Fernando Valley, including Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana, Woodland Hills, and Studio City, along with nearby Calabasas, Northridge, Van Nuys, Thousand Oaks, and communities across Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Sessions are arranged by appointment.
Family financial mediation, answered plainly.
Family financial mediation is a structured conversation guided by a neutral mediator who helps family members work through money disagreements, shared obligations, and financial decisions that need clarity. The mediator does not decide who is right or provide legal, tax, or financial advice; the family reaches its own practical agreements.
No. Mediation helps family members communicate and reach agreements; it is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Practical Family Mediation provides mediation only and encourages participants to consult independent attorneys, accountants, or financial professionals about the specifics of their situation.
Mediation can help with divorce-related finances, shared household or family obligations, disagreements about supporting a relative, inheritance-related money concerns, jointly owned property, and other financial decisions where family members need clarity and a workable agreement.
Productive financial mediation generally depends on honest, relevant information so agreements rest on a realistic picture. The mediator helps structure that conversation. Participants remain free to consult their own independent advisors and to have any understanding reviewed before finalizing it.
Often part of the same conversation.
Divorce & Separation Mediation
Property, parenting, and financial conversations during a separation, without the fight.
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Inheritance & Sibling Disputes
Estates, family property, and inheritance-related money concerns, worked through calmly.
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Family Business Mediation
Ownership, succession, and financial disputes among relatives and partners.
Explore this serviceBring clarity to a difficult money conversation.
A private consultation is a calm, confidential first step. We will talk through your situation and whether family financial mediation is the right fit.
Schedule a Private Consultation