Family Law Mediation

As is the case with negotiation, Family Law Mediation:

• is a voluntary process. Both parties must agree to participate and neither party can force the other to engage in family law mediation. 
• family law mediation can be commenced at any time (prior to the commencement of a Court Application and during the court process).
• family law mediation is only appropriate in certain circumstances (for example, in a situation where there has been a historical imbalance of power between the parties, then family law mediation may not be in the interests of the less dominant party). Based on your specific circumstances, you and your family lawyer ought to determine if family law mediation makes the most sense in your matter.

Family law mediation usually takes place before a senior family law lawyer. While family law mediation can often resolve a matter faster than the court process, there are the additional costs of hiring a mediator which must be taken into account. The costs will vary depending on the mediator chosen. That being said, if a matter is resolved via family law mediation, it is highly likely that this process will ultimately be less costly than the legal fees one would incur if their matter proceeded through the Courts. This however, can be a double-edged sword, as the mediator cannot force parties to resolve the matter and cannot make orders. Accordingly, the parties may pay the costs of a mediation and, if they cannot ultimately resolve the dispute with the assistance of the mediator, they may still need to resort to the court process.

There are several different types of family law mediation, and the structure of a family law mediation will vary from mediator to mediator. Some mediators will meet with the parties themselves and try to arrive at a resolution of the issues. In such a case, it is important that each party then obtain independent legal advice from a family lawyer, and that a family lawyer draft a comprehensive Separation Agreement based on the resolution arrived at during the family law mediation. Other mediators will only participate in a family maw mediation if both parties are represented by lawyers.