John Laubach is an attorney and mediator who runs Empowered Mediation from Frankfort, Michigan. He has practiced family law in Arizona since 1987, is licensed to practice law there, and is certified by the Michigan State Court Administrative Office as both a domestic mediator and a civil mediator. He mediates divorce, custody, property, business and civil disputes for people in Arizona and Michigan, in person or by secure video conference.

That paragraph is the short version. The rest of this page fills in the detail people usually ask about before they hire a mediator: where he can work, what his training is, which parts of a divorce he has handled most often, and how a remote session works when the two people involved live a long way apart.

The Facts in One Place

Practice
Empowered Mediation, based in Frankfort, Michigan (Benzie County)
Mediator
John Laubach, attorney and mediator
Where he works
Arizona, including Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tucson and Mesa. Michigan, including Benzie, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Manistee and Wexford counties, and statewide by secure video conference.
How sessions run
In person or remote, in both states
Law license
Arizona. He has also worked Michigan cases on a pro hac vice basis, which means admission for a single case.
Mediator certifications
48-hour Domestic Mediator and 40-hour Civil Mediator, Michigan State Court Administrative Office
Practicing since
1987
Education
J.D., University of Michigan Law School. B.S. in Public Accounting and B.S. in English Literature, Northern Arizona University.
Contact
(602) 206-7458 · john@laubach.lawyer

A Family Lawyer First

John started practicing law in 1987 at Sacks Tierney in Phoenix, where his early work was commercial: negotiating and drafting contracts for asset sales and acquisitions, financing documents, and the litigation that follows when those deals go wrong. From 1991 to 1996 he co-owned Laubach & Lake in Phoenix, handling contract disputes, tort claims, collections, trust disputes, fiduciary breaches, divorces and custody cases.

Most of his career since then has been family law in his own practice. He has represented clients in divorce and post-decree cases covering custody and parenting time, relocation, child abuse and neglect allegations, child support, spousal maintenance, asset and debt division, community property, business valuations, retirement division, property appraisals and tax questions. He has tried family law cases in the Maricopa, Pinal, Coconino and Gila County Superior Courts.

That trial experience matters in mediation for a plain reason. A mediator who has watched judges decide these issues for decades can tell both people, without taking sides, what tends to happen when a case like theirs reaches a courtroom. People make better decisions when they know what the alternative looks like.

Why a Mediator Who Is Also an Accountant by Training

John's undergraduate degree is in public accounting. In divorce mediation that background comes up more often than people expect. Splitting a household is partly an accounting exercise: valuing a business, separating community and separate property, tracing money that moved between accounts, and understanding what a retirement account is worth before taxes and after. He also spent years advising businesses on forming corporations and LLCs, buy-sell agreements, internal controls and accounting policies, which is useful when one spouse owns a company or both of them run it together.

The Kinds of Disputes He Mediates

Since November 2024, Empowered Mediation has mediated family law and contract disputes. The family side includes every part of a divorce, custody and parenting time, relocation, abuse and neglect issues, asset and debt division, community property and retirement division. The categories below are the ones that tend to make a case complicated, and each is an area where John has worked as a lawyer before he worked as a mediator.

Complex Custody and Parenting Time

Parenting plans with unusual schedules, high conflict between parents, allegations of abuse or neglect, and children with needs that a standard schedule does not fit.

Relocation and Long-Distance Parenting

One parent moving out of state, or more than 100 miles away within the same state, and the travel, holiday and summer schedules that follow. He works in both Arizona and Michigan, so families split between the two are a natural fit.

Small and Family Businesses

Valuing a business, deciding who keeps it, and working out a buyout or payment plan that the business can carry.

Dividing Assets, Debts and Retirement

Homes, investment accounts, pensions and 401(k)s, debts, and the difference between Arizona community property and Michigan's approach to dividing marital property.

Support

Child support and spousal maintenance, including changes to existing orders after a job loss, a new job or a move.

Estate Planning and Trust Questions

John has drafted trusts, wills, living wills and powers of attorney, and litigated claims involving trusts and estates in Arizona Superior Court and probate court. Those documents often need attention during a divorce, and inheritance disputes between family members can be mediated too.

Civil and Contract Disputes

Contract disputes, business disagreements, property disputes and trust and estate matters. He has also served as a court-appointed arbitrator in civil suits.

How Remote Mediation Works

For many families, video is the only practical way to mediate. Michigan winters, a parent who has moved to Phoenix, a spouse who works shifts: all of these make a shared conference room hard to arrange. John offers remote sessions in both Arizona and Michigan, and in Michigan he works statewide by secure video conference.

The steps are the same as an in-person mediation. There is a first consultation, then a preparation stage where both people gather the documents and information that matter, then one or more mediation sessions, and finally a written agreement that each person's attorney can review before anyone signs or files anything. Remote sessions also make it easy for each person to have their own lawyer join from their own office.

Both states have rules about when a mediated agreement becomes binding, and both allow for more than a signature on paper. In Michigan, the court rule on domestic relations mediation says an agreement is binding when it is reduced to a signed writing or acknowledged by the parties on an audio or video recording. Arizona's Rule 69 of the Rules of Family Law Procedure recognizes agreements that are in a signed writing, stated on the record before a judge or court reporter, or stated in an audio recording made before a mediator. The details matter, so each person's attorney should confirm how a particular agreement will be finalized.

Lawyer and Mediator Are Different Jobs

When John mediates, he is a neutral. He does not represent either person and he does not give legal advice to either side, even though he is a lawyer. What his legal background adds is knowledge of the issues and the courts, so he can ask useful questions, spot gaps in an agreement, and help both people test their proposals against what a judge would likely do. Each person should still have their own attorney, and the site's FAQ explains why in more detail.

His approach to the room is in his own words on the home page: "My name is John Laubach. Why hire me as your mediator? Because I hear you, I think outside of the box, and I don't give up." In practice that means spending time on what each person needs before anyone argues about numbers.

Professional Memberships

Roots in Northern Michigan

John was born in Frankfort and is a fourth-generation Benzie County resident. From 1976 to 1981 he worked on the Pleasant Valley Hotshots, a U.S. Forest Service wildfire crew, where he served as a crew boss, and in 1985 he interned with Michigan Indian Legal Services in Traverse City. He is the father of four sons, an Eagle Scout, a past president of the Benzie Area Genealogical Society, and is writing a book about Frankfort and Benzie County during World War II.

Common Questions

Can John Mediate If We Live in Different States?

Yes. He mediates by secure video conference as well as in person, so the two of you do not need to be in the same room or the same state. Because he is licensed in Arizona and certified as a mediator in Michigan, he is a practical choice when one person lives in each. The article on families split between Arizona and Michigan covers that situation in detail.

Is He a Lawyer or a Mediator?

Both, at different times. He has practiced family law in Arizona since 1987 and is licensed there. In Michigan he is certified as a domestic and civil mediator. As your mediator he is neutral and does not advise either side.

Does He Work With People in Northern Michigan?

Yes, in person in the northwest counties and by video anywhere in the state. If you are weighing a private mediator against the free and low-cost options through the courts and community mediation centers, read Divorce Mediation in Northwest Michigan.

How Do I Reach Him?

Call (602) 206-7458 or email john@laubach.lawyer. Evening and weekend appointments are available.

This page describes Empowered Mediation and John Laubach's background. It is general information, not legal advice. A mediator is a neutral and does not represent either party. For advice about your own case, consult an attorney licensed in the state where your case is or will be filed.