It is requested that this Response be published to all certified family mediators in Florida to correct the factual inaccuracies in the Question and protect my reputation.

February 3, 2004

    The Question contained some factual allegations that are not correct and the purpose of this Response is to correct the record.

    The other person who appeared during the marketing portion of the seminar was a certified mediator who has a successful private practice in pro se divorce mediation. I did not endorse his filing of the papers for the parties with the clerk for an additional fee and did not endorse his appearing at the final hearing with the parties to "ask the question" for an additional fee. It is clear from the written materials I prepared and passed out at the seminar that my services as a mediator end when the parties sign the Marital Settlement Agreement by Mediation and the pleadings for an uncontested divorce, and that the parties file the papers with the Clerk and attend the final hearing without me. I plan to ask the mediator who speaks on marketing at my future seminars to limit his remarks to marketing of a pro se mediation practice without any mention of the mediator filing the papers for the parties and appearing at the final hearing with the parties for additional fees.

   It is also clear that the pleadings for an uncontested divorce I prepared and passed out at the seminar are patterened after the Florida Supreme Court forms but in a different format. Helping the parties fill out those forms is tantamount to helping them fill out Supreme Court forms and in no way constitutes "drafting" of pleadings. To avoid any appearance of "drafting" in the future I am in the process of downloading the Supreme Court forms to a disk which I will use to help the parties fill out the Supreme Court pro se pleading forms with my laptop. I plan to substitute the Supreme Court forms for my forms in the materials I give future students at my seminars. I also plan to furnish all my previous students with a disk containing the appropriate Supreme Court forms free of charge.

Sincerely,

Meredith J. Cohen