084: Two Decisions That Will Define Your Divorce – with Family Law Icon Forrest “Woody” Mosten

Most divorcing parents assume their only options are to fight it out in court or somehow manage a settlement on the courthouse steps. What if the entire premise is wrong? In this episode of the Children First Family Law™ Podcast, Krista Nash sits down with Forrest "Woody" Mosten, a California-based family law attorney, mediator, and author of Family Lawyer as Peacemaker, who hasn't set foot in a courtroom in over 30 years and has built a thriving practice doing exactly that. Forrest brings decades of hard-won experience working exclusively in mediation and cooperative law, including serving as counsel in the largest collaborative divorce case in history. He shares why litigation tends to extend emotional recovery, how early resolution protects both children and family finances, and what parents should actually look for when choosing a lawyer. Families navigating divorce deserve to know that the war metaphor is optional. In this episode, you will hear: Why litigation extends the time it takes families to recover their psychological and emotional baseline after divorce The real cost of adversarial divorce, including how two competing expert witnesses can cost four to five times more than one neutral How Forrest "Woody" Mosten built a court-free practice that outearned his litigation years and why the financial case for peacemaking is strong What the Roy Disney collaborative divorce revealed about protecting children's wellbeing even in high-asset, high-complexity cases The difference between early and late resolution strategies, and why most traditional family lawyers default to the wrong one Practical steps for families entering divorce, including how to find peacemaker attorneys and why bringing in a neutral mediator from the start changes outcomes Why the lawyer the other party chooses shapes everything, and how to respond when the opposing side lawyers up aggressively Resources from this Episode https://mostenmediationtraining.com/forrest-woody-mosten/ https://www.amazon.com/s?k=family+lawyer+as+peacemaker&crid=30L9A8CG4DIPX&sprefix=family+lawyer+as+peacemake%2Caps%2C233&ref=nb_sb_noss https://www.amazon.com/Collaborative-Divorce-Handbook-Helping-Families/dp/0470395192/ref=sr_1_3?crid=12RB7BN9AS2XG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pouW277LrhaFj9dO7I1voFK_Mg6rnLeWPZUZVVKSdXAC9HGmaCK6Iv5PJ-9SMWwxopCfLyjoN2bRm24zRW4BHSNex0_yvuK4UO378zkOCNv8ns-AOb73nX0vcxzpFlE38XHtDa5eIUJPrv289yrvYmEW1eJECrd06RGlmLFFRRE.leikNCc6i4rlChlQiQsh6W1ZRxEzZzgm2rWd5DRdQDo&dib_tag=se&keywords=forrest+mosten&qid=1777610223&sprefix=forrest+mosten%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-3 www.childrenfirstfamilylaw.com All states have different laws; be sure you are checking out your state laws specifically surrounding divorce. Krista is a licensed attorney in Colorado and Wyoming but is not providing through this podcast legal advice. Please be sure to seek independent legal counsel in your area for your specific situation.  Follow and Review: We’d love for you to follow us if you haven’t yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.