Probate Mediation

I ran across an excellent essay today by Rikk Larsen about mediating the estate case. Rikk suggests that mediation is underused in the estate planning and settlement field. He makes three suggestions to increase the use of mediation in this area:

1) Convince entrenched professionals, the lawyers, financial planners and CPA’s, that mediation is not a threat but a positive team option that can help make their job easier and not diminish their billable hours.

2) Continue to work with probate courts to include mediation as a formal court approved option that judges understand and embrace. Presently only a few courts have formal programs like the one New Hampshire is introducing this year on a statewide basis.

3) Continue general marketing to the public by word of mouth, print articles, other media pieces and professional association support.

What do you think? Are courts, attorneys, and financial planners using mediation in estate settlement procedures?