My neighbor and I don’t get along. We’ve had problems over the years about everything from loud parties to dogs. Now the issue is paying for a shared fence that we both use. I was thinking about small claims court, but my friend suggested the Austin Dispute Resolution Center. What is that?

Your friend’s suggestion to use the Austin Dispute Resolution Center is a good one, particularly for the ongoing neighbor dispute you describe. The Austin DRC is an independent, nonprofit organization that provides and promotes accessible, high-quality dispute resolution services for all people in Travis County and the surrounding areas.

The Austin DRC provides services that include mediation, arbitration, community education, and training. Mediation may be your best option in a neighbor-dispute situation. Mediation allows two parties with a dispute to come together and communicate in a productive manner in an effort to reach a mutual agreement to resolve the dispute. The Austin DRC would provide a trained mediator to help facilitate the communication between you and your neighbor.

Approximately 80% of Austin DRC mediations result in an agreement. Even when the parties don’t reach an agreement, they often benefit from better understanding the issues and the other perspective of the other party.

Mediation makes sense in situations like yours for lots of reasons. Mediation often allows for a faster resolution than court (i.e., days rather than months or years). In comparison to litigation, mediation usually costs less from both a financial and emotional standpoint. Just as important, mediation helps to preserve important relationships and has a better chance of creating a more positive relationship with your neighbor as opposed to filing a lawsuit.

The Austin DRC conducts mediation on a variety of disputes in addition to neighbor law. For example, other types of disputes handled by the Austin DRC include auto repair, divorce and family issues, employment matters, landlord/tenant concerns, and real estate disputes. I highly recommend considering the Austin DRC to resolve these kinds of disputes. To learn more information about Austin DRC, call them directly (371-0033) or check out their website (www.austindrc.org).

This article appears in September 21 • 2007.

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