Welcome to Frequently Asked Family Law Questions. Today we’re going to take a look at how to organise a mediation. Mediation is a mechanism where the parties to a dispute voluntarily ask an independent third-party to facilitate a discussion aimed at exploring the issues in conflict and attempting to negotiate an agreement that all parties consent to be bound by.
We’ll take a short break from our series on Family Law Fundamentals to start a new series on Frequently Asked Questions. This is one of the most common questions we get asked – and the answer is generally, yes, mediation is the first step in the process if your dispute involves children. As we discussed in our recent article on the best interests of the child, filing an application with the Court is essentially asking a judge to decide for you what is in the best interests of your child or children. There are many reasons why such an application to the court is sometimes necessary, but a far better (and cheaper) way to resolve the dispute is to engage in family dispute resolution, also known as family law mediation. There are many benefits to mediation: The process is flexible and can be tailored to the individual needs of the ...