RI Divorce Mediation Center Staff
Lori A. Grover, N.C.M., President
Lori Grover is a divorce and family mediator, a divorce financial strategist, author, and teacher. She has a passion—and a penchant—for helping couples manage and settle their divorce in a sensible, fair and respectful way that reduces the expense, conflict and stress on themselves and especially their children.
In 2008 Lori received her professional Mediator training with Lakewood College, a nationally accredited mediation training institution offering a curriculum exceeding the minimum divorce and family mediator requirements required in all fifty States and she has achieved her Professional Mediator certification by the National Association of Professional Mediators.
Lori is the founder and co-owner, with her husband Kevin, of the Rhode Island Divorce Mediation Center and a founding member of the Academy of Professional Family Mediators, an organization dedicated to establishing uniform training and certification standards, practices and continuing education programs for professional family Mediators.
She is a member of the Advisory Board of Lakewood College where she was named 2012 Mediator of the Year and she is the Rhode Island Chairwoman of the National Parents Organization, an organization focused on preserving parent-child relationships during and after divorce through education and legislative change and she has taught divorce preparation at The Learning Connection in Providence, RI.
Lori has also written numerous articles on divorce and her first book on co-parenting after divorce, Separate Homes, Connected Lives is now available from Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle form.
A divorced (and now remarried) mother, stepmother and successful business woman, Lori discovered the benefits of divorce mediation both by accident and by her own personal experience with divorce. Nearly 20 years ago when divorce mediation was unknown outside of the more legally progressive minded areas of the United States and elsewhere, and against the advice of their attorneys, family and friends Lori and her ex-husband negotiated much of their own divorce settlement themselves to protect their young daughter from the increasing tension and conflict between them, and to protect themselves from the enormous legal expenses they were incurring. And while they were successful in creating a settlement, recovery—especially her financial recovery—took years, mainly due to little, if any, financial planning before and during their divorce.
In the years that followed, Lori’s interactions with divorcing couples in her career led her to recognize the need for them to not only obtain divorce advice and information from less adversarially minded legal professionals, but to also seek sound advice from professionals in other fields such as accounting, financial management, real estate and when necessary, emotional support providers, to help them prepare and manage their impending divorce in a better way: one that minimizes the financial damage and emotional fallout so common in divorce. As a result, in early 2006 Lori founded the Divorce Resource Center of Rhode Island, which in 2012 was rechristened the Rhode Island Divorce
Mediation Center.
Lori’s 15-year background in the consumer finance industry renders her expertly qualified to help clients manage two of the biggest challenges divorcing couples face: managing their debt and the fate of the family home. Her experience in home finance, credit repair, and debt management allows her to confidently help divorcing couples minimize the financial fallout of divorce by helping them create smart, effective strategies and solutions in order to achieve the best possible financial outcome given their circumstances, income, and resources.
Lori helps her clients craft divorce settlements and co-parenting agreements that are fair and work to the to the benefit of both parties. These thoughtful agreements are proven to dramatically reduce the financial hardship, bitterness and ongoing animosity that many couples experience after divorce and work to make the recovery process much easier on the couple and healthier for their children.
Now entering its 15th year of operation, the Rhode Island Divorce Mediation Center has earned an enviable reputation for exceeding client expectations, evidenced by the referrals from former clients, the heartfelt, independently verified testimonials which can be found here on the Proven Credible website and by the Rhode Island Divorce Mediation Center’s designation as an A+ Accredited Business by the Better Business Bureau.
Kevin J. Grover, Vice-President
Kevin Grover, a divorced dad (now happily remarried to ‘The Boss’) with 25 years of experience in sales, business management and marketing is the Divorce Mediation Center’s CFO, Operations and Marketing Manager. In addition to the day to day business operations, Kevin assists the Divorce Mediation Center’s clients with task of collecting and organizing all the necessary financial and monthly living expense documentation couples need when preparing to divorce. This benefits the Center’s clients in two very important ways: First, the information is used to create detailed asset, property and budget reports which the couple then uses during their divorce mediation sessions which, by having everything to be discussed at their fingertips, eliminates any guesswork or especially suspicion between them. This makes the divorce mediation process smoother and more productive because everything’s “on the table”. Secondly, once the couple agrees on their divorce settlement they’re provided with updated reports reflecting the final results of their agreement which they can then use or provide to their attorneys for preparing the financial asset and expense affidavits the court requires saving them both a lot of time and effort. As a divorced father and a man who’s lived with the fallout from divorce from a young age, Kevin shares Lori’s passion and commitment to help couples minimize the damage divorce can cause, especially to the children involved.
Company Mission Statement
- To instill confidence, encourage self determination and educate‚ empower‚ and support our divorcing clients and their children as they navigate and endure the financial and emotional problems, challenges and lifestyle changes that are a part of every divorce.
- To work collaboratively on behalf of our clients with our network of qualified local professionals in the fields of Law, Accounting, Real Estate, Financial Services, Mental Health Counseling and other related services to ensure that our divorcing clients and their children remain financially secure and emotionally healthy during and after their divorce.
- To provide the highest quality professional Divorce Mediation services and ensure that our clients are given accurate, reliable information to assist them in making sensible‚ well informed decisions that will help them successfully divorce and go on to live fulfilling, rewarding, productive lives in the future.
