Orange County High Net Worth Divorce Mediation Lawyer

Brian G. Seastrom mediates high net worth divorces. He is the president of Seastrom Tuttle Murphy Dockstader, an American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Certified Family Law Mediator, and a California Certified Family Law Specialist. Best Lawyers named him Lawyer of the Year for Family Law Mediation in Orange County for 2026 and Lawyer of the Year for Family Law for 2027, an award given to one attorney per practice area per region each year. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and of the International Academy of Family Lawyers. He mediates the same cases he tries.

Parties hire him when the estate is the hard part. A closely held company that has to be valued before it can be divided. Equity compensation vesting across the date of separation. A real estate portfolio built through years of exchanges, carrying tax basis that looks nothing like its value. Separate property that ran through joint accounts for a decade. Support where the income arrives as distributions rather than a paycheck. He has mediated these questions for business owners across industries, fund principals, corporate executives, physicians, and the spouses on the other side of each.

Why Parties with Substantial Estates Mediate

The usual case for mediation is that it is faster, cheaper, and less hostile than a trial. All of that is true, and for parties with real estates it is rarely the deciding reason.

A contested divorce is a public file. Support declarations carry financial statements. Forensic reports get filed with motions. Exhibits land in a docket that lenders, business partners, and competitors can pull. Mediation is confidential under California law. The settlement is entered with the court as a stipulated judgment, and the negotiation, the drafts, and the financial work that produced it stay out of the file.

Valuation also works differently in the room. In litigation each side hires its own forensic accountant, and two qualified experts applying defensible assumptions can land far apart, leaving a judge to pick one, pick the other, or split the difference. In mediation the parties can retain a single neutral valuator, work through owner compensation, goodwill, and discount questions together, and stress-test the assumptions until the number resembles what a buyer would actually pay. For the spouse who will live with that number as a buyout note, the difference is not academic.

A mediated settlement can be structured in ways a judgment cannot. Equalization through a note carrying market interest, secured and amortized against the company’s actual cash flow. Community interests offset against separate real estate or retirement assets. Phased buyouts. Earn-out provisions where future performance is honestly uncertain. Allocations built around tax basis rather than appraised value. A court can divide assets, order a sale, or assign a value with an equalization payment. The deal gets written across a conference table.

Brian’s article on why business owners choose mediation over litigation works through the lender, employee, and deal-structure problems in detail.

How Brian Runs a Mediation

Disclosure comes first. The fiduciary duties spouses owe each other do not relax because the forum is private, and a settlement built on incomplete numbers does not hold. Where the estate calls for it, the parties jointly retain neutral experts and share the work rather than paying two sets of professionals to disagree. Sessions run as focused working meetings on discrete issues, the company, the houses, support, rather than marathon days. When the parties reach terms, Brian drafts the marital settlement agreement or stipulated judgment for entry with the court, and each spouse is encouraged to have it reviewed by independent counsel, a tax preparer, and an estate planner before signing.

Sessions are held in person in Irvine and by video for parties anywhere in California.

When Mediation Is the Wrong Tool

Mediation asks both spouses to negotiate in good faith and disclose completely. Where there has been domestic violence or intimidation, where one spouse controls the finances and will not open the books, or where one side is using the process for delay, it is the wrong tool, and Brian will say so. The firm’s litigation practice exists for those cases. And when a client of the firm mediates before another neutral, the firm’s attorneys serve as consulting counsel, reviewing proposals and the settlement before anything is signed.

Related Reading

Why Business Owners Choose Mediation Over Litigation — privacy, the single jointly retained expert, and the structures an agreement can reach that a judgment cannot.

Dividing a Business With Dozens of Related Entities in a California Divorce — layered ownership, intercompany debt, and how the valuation actually gets built.

Litigating Private Equity Positions in Divorce — carried interest, unfunded capital commitments, and transfer restrictions that limit what an order can do.

Common Questions About Divorce Mediation

Who mediates high-net-worth divorces at the firm?

Brian G. Seastrom is the firm’s mediator. He is a Certified Family Law Specialist, certified in family law by the State Bar of California’s Board of Legal Specialization, a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and of the International Academy of Family Lawyers, and was named Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” for Family Law Mediation in Orange County for 2026. He mediates throughout California. The firm’s other attorneys regularly serve as consulting counsel for a spouse mediating elsewhere. He mediates matters involving closely held companies, multi-entity holdings, contested business valuations, real estate portfolios, carried interest and waterfall distributions, and executive equity compensation.

What makes a high net worth mediation different from an ordinary one?

The analytical work is the same work a contested case requires. Someone still has to value the company, apportion the equity that vested across the separation date, trace the separate property contribution, and model the tax consequence of a proposed division before the parties agree to it. What changes is control. The parties direct the analysis, set the timetable, and build the settlement around the real constraints of the assets, illiquidity, lending covenants, vesting schedules, and tax basis, in ways a judgment entered after trial frequently cannot.

Can a business be valued in mediation?

Yes, and often better than at trial. The parties can jointly retain one neutral forensic accountant and work through owner compensation, goodwill, and discount questions together rather than paying two experts to disagree. The assumptions get tested in the room. A judge choosing between competing appraisals is not the same thing as a number both parties helped build and can live with.

Is mediation actually private?

Yes. A contested divorce is a public court file, with financial declarations, forensic reports, and exhibits in the record. Mediation is confidential under California law. The final settlement is entered with the court as a stipulated judgment, but the negotiation and the financial work that produced it stay out of the file.

Do we each still need our own lawyer?

Each spouse is encouraged to have independent counsel review the settlement before signing, along with a tax preparer and an estate planner where the estate calls for it. A mediator represents neither spouse and gives neither spouse legal advice, so independent review is how each party protects their own position.

Do you mediate for parties outside Orange County?

Yes. Mediation is available to parties anywhere in California. Sessions run in person in Irvine and by video for parties in Los Angeles, San Diego, the Bay Area, and elsewhere in the state. The firm’s litigation practice is centered in Orange County.

Call 949.474.0800 to schedule a mediation consultation.