Divorce & Family Mediation in Pinellas County
Pinellas County families can resolve divorce and co-parenting disputes privately, without waiting in a courtroom. Jessica Oliver, LCSW, is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator serving St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Pinellas Park, Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs, Seminole, and the beach communities in person and by secure video. Mediation is $200 per hour, with a free 15-minute consultation first.
Pinellas County Family Court
Pinellas sits in Florida’s Sixth Judicial Circuit, which it shares with neighboring Pasco County. Court business is spread across several facilities: the Clearwater Courthouse at 315 Court Street, the Pinellas County Justice Center at 14250 49th Street North, and the St. Petersburg Judicial Building at 545 1st Avenue North.
For families, the useful thing to know is that Pinellas and Pasco are in the same circuit. Households move across that county line constantly. A parent relocating from Palm Harbor to Trinity, or St. Petersburg to Wesley Chapel, and staying inside the same circuit tends to keep things simpler. Mediation is portable regardless: a mediated parenting plan travels with the family, not the courthouse.
Under Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.740, contested family matters may be referred to mediation. Choosing mediation before a judge orders it means keeping control of timing, pace, and who is in the room.
Long marriages and later-life divorce
Pinellas is Florida’s most densely populated county and skews significantly older than its neighbors, which changes the shape of the caseload. More of these matters are long marriages ending after twenty, thirty, or forty years, with adult children rather than minor ones.
The issues are different. Time-sharing may not be in dispute at all, while retirement accounts, pensions, Social Security timing, a home carrying decades of shared history, and health-coverage questions are. The emotional weight is different too. Grief for a long shared life rather than conflict over a young family, and adult children who have opinions and take sides.
Mediation suits these matters well. A judge dividing assets works from categories. Mediation lets you work from what actually matters to each of you: who keeps the house versus who needs liquidity now, how to handle a family property nobody wants sold, how to be in the same room at a grandchild’s graduation in five years.
Services available in Pinellas County
Family and divorce mediation, including long-marriage and later-life matters. Learn more
Parenting coordination for high-conflict co-parents under Fla. Stat. §61.125. Learn more
Collaborative divorce facilitation as the neutral on a collaborative team. Learn more
Document preparation for pro se litigants and attorneys. Learn more
In-person or virtual across Pinellas
In-person sessions are available throughout the county. Virtual sessions are available statewide and are worth considering if one party has since moved out of the area, if mobility or health makes travel difficult, or if being in the same room would make an honest conversation impossible.
Common questions from Pinellas County families
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Often more appropriate, not less. Long marriages involve more history and more assets, which is exactly where a judge’s limited time hurts most. Mediation gives you the hours to work through it properly.
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No.
Parenting plans apply to minor children. Long-marriage mediation usually centres on property, support, and the practical questions of separating two lives that have been financially intertwined for decades.
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Yes.
Cases are frequently referred to mediation after filing, and many Pinellas families mediate mid-case and resolve it there.
Book a free 15-minute consultation, or call or text (813) 449-2500.
Jessica Oliver, LCSW is a mediator and licensed clinical social worker, not an attorney. Mediation is not legal advice or legal representation.