Mediation infographics
Two plain-language guides to court-connected mediation, drawn from court self-help pages, court rules and statutes, with every source listed. Free to share and embed: courts, libraries, legal aid and schools are welcome to use them with the credit line.
Mediation vs. court, side by sideIssues you don’t settle go back to the judge, and both paths end in a court order. Then who decides, privacy, cost and time, with named state examples.
Your first mediation, step by stepNothing is settled unless you both agree: six stages from the court’s referral to the judge’s order, with a plan of the room.
How these are made
Every fact comes from a family-court rule, a statute or a court’s own self-help or program page, read in full and dated, or from the court rosters and posted rates behind MediationList. Where courts differ, the example names its state or court; where no official figure exists, there is no number. Each infographic has a text version and its numbered sources. See our editorial policy.
Sources checked October 27, 2026. General information, not legal advice. Also see the divorce laws map, the divorce cost calculator and the free “Find a mediator” widget.
Cite this page
MediationList. (2026). Mediation infographics [Infographic]. https://mediationlist.com/infographics/
APA 7th ed. A retrieval date is included only for pages whose content changes, such as maps, data and tools.