Sonoma County Family Law Mediator | Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Healdsburg | Family Law Mediator Santa Rosa, CA | Marla Keenan-Rivero

If you’re facing a divorce, custody dispute, or support issue in Sonoma County, you have a choice most people don’t realize they have: you don’t have to go to court.

Marla Keenan-Rivero is a family law mediator and attorney with more than twenty years of California family law experience. She works with families across Sonoma County — in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Healdsburg, and the surrounding communities — to resolve even complex disputes privately, collaboratively, and without the cost and conflict of litigation

Sonoma County families deal with the same high stakes as anyone facing a divorce or custody case — homes, retirement accounts, business interests, children’s futures. What makes mediation different is that you and the other party reach your own agreements, with Marla’s guidance, rather than having a judge decide for you.

Marla brings deep knowledge of how California family law actually works — what courts care about, how support is calculated, what judges look for in parenting plans — so that both parties can make informed decisions. That’s different from a mediator who isn’t also an attorney.

Marla mediates the full range of family law matters for clients in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Healdsburg, Windsor, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Cloverdale, and neighboring communities:

•  Divorce mediation

•  Child custody and parenting plan mediation

•  Child support mediation

•  Spousal support (alimony) mediation

•  Complex financial and high-asset divorce mediation

•  Business-owner divorce mediation

Litigation is expensive, slow, and public. In Sonoma County’s family court system, contested divorces can take a year or more to resolve — and cost tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The process is adversarial by design, which makes co-parenting harder after the fact.

Mediation is private, faster, and dramatically less expensive. Most cases resolve in a few sessions. The agreements you reach tend to hold up better over time because both parties had a hand in creating them. And when children are involved, you’re not starting your co-parenting relationship from a position of conflict.

Marla’s office is in Santa Rosa, and she serves clients throughout Sonoma County. Sessions can be held in person or remotely for clients who prefer to meet by video — which many people find just as effective, and more convenient.

If you live in Petaluma, Healdsburg, Windsor, Sebastopol, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Cloverdale, or anywhere else in Sonoma County and even all of California, distance is not a barrier.

Marla has practiced family law in California for over twenty years. She spent much of her career as a litigator, which means she has been on both sides of the courtroom. She chose to focus on mediation because she’s seen what both paths look like at the end — and for most families, the collaborative route produces better outcomes.

She is a licensed California attorney and brings full legal knowledge to the mediation process. That matters when the issues involve significant assets, business ownership, or complicated custody situations that require more than a surface-level understanding of the law.

A free, confidential consultation is the first step. You tell Marla about your situation, she explains how mediation works, and you decide together whether it’s the right approach for your family. There’s no pressure and no obligation.

Call (707) 525-8800 or email Tidwell@perrylaw.net to schedule.