Would be great for all men to seek men’s advisory paralegal or mediator prior to any court involvement when it comes to divorce.
Good things turned out well for you and yours..
I don’t know about your jurisdiction, but where I live, mediation is a mandatory step ordered by Family Court.
Our mediator called an impasse after about 30 seconds. OK, maybe it was 30 minutes. The parenting plan proposed by the other side (ridiculous by my now ex-wife), which was consistent with the impasse, was used by the ad litem attorney (a biological female) to propose to the jury that I get custody.
So yeah, mediation is good, but if the custody is contested, and one has ANY inkling that one’s spouse is about to do scorched Earth (usually Mom), get a good lawyer, even to arrange mediation. It is simply too risky to deal with an ex-spouse whose real goal is to destroy the other parent.