Barbara Joan Tyson

Barbara Tyson was the attorney-mediator in my team divorce mediation at Peace Talks. As a mediator, she did not represent me, but was consulted as part of the mediation process. A clause was drafted into my proposed judgment requiring me to remain in psychiatric treatment on a schedule and medicat...ion set by a provider, and to notify my high-conflict ex-husband in writing if I ever stopped. Nothing in the record supported it: no evaluation, no diagnosis, no clinician had assessed me. The clause made my former spouse the person I would report my medical decisions to, enforceable as a court order. I never spoke with Ms. Tyson about this clause. It appeared in the draft judgment without her ever raising it with me, discussing what it meant, or asking whether I understood what I would be agreeing to. My understanding is that it was drafted following discussion in the session rather than originated by her. The first time I saw it was in the document itself. I objected once I saw it, and it was removed before the judgment was finalized, but only after I agreed to give up a separate provision limiting my ex-husband's alcohol use during his custodial time with our children. If Barbara Tyson drafts your judgment, make her walk you through every term she puts in it and explain why it's there. In my case a clause reached my proposed judgment that she never discussed with me at all. Do not sign anything she drafts until you understand it as well as she does. A clause like that was drafted by a lawyer and reached my judgment without anyone discussing it with me. That is why I did not feel safe in this process.