A Divorce Without Court? How Family Law Arbitration Works with SOLAGREE Founder Amanda Mason

After more than 20 years as a divorce attorney, Amanda Mason calls herself a "recovering divorce attorney." She spent those years watching families get "absolutely tortured by the traditional processes," whether in a courtroom or in one attorney negotiating against another. Then she went through her own divorce trial over child custody. In this episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell sits down with Amanda, a Fresh Starts expert and the founder of Solagree, to talk about what she built after asking a simple question: what can we do better?

Amanda's answer starts with a promise. Every alternative to court has good ideas, she says, but none of them closed the loop. With Solagree, a couple agrees from the very beginning that if they can't resolve something, they won't go to court. They'll go to private family law arbitration instead. From there, the process has three phases. First comes intake, education, and empowerment, the part Amanda says couples lack more than anything: time to understand their circumstances, exchange information, and learn that there are paths forward and they're going to be okay. Then comes mediation with experienced attorney mediators. Finally, a neutral attorney arbitrator turns the couple's agreements into a binding document and serves as a safety net for anything still unresolved. "You've designed your own outcome," Amanda says. "That's the goal."

Olivia and Amanda talk about why a virtual process matters, from being in your own safe space to not having to figure out where to park, what to wear, and who's watching the kids. Amanda explains how Solagree builds state-based panels of professionals, how you can start learning even before you've talked to your spouse, why you don't have to be fully amicable to use it, and why privacy and cost predictability can't be overstated. Her words for anyone considering divorce are simple: "the first step is the hardest. And then it gets better from there." You're going to be okay, and you're going to be supported.

Connect with Amanda Mason and Solagree:

🌐 Solagree: https://www.solagree.com/

📝 Take the Solagree quiz: https://www.solagree.com/quiz

📅 Book a Solagree consult: https://www.solagree.com/book-a-solagree-consult

📱 Solagree on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solagree_divorce/

📱 Amanda on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandamasonatty/

💙 Fresh Starts expert profile: https://freshstartsregistry.com/resourceguide/solagree

🔗 Check out Fresh Starts Registry:

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