Mediation

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About family dispute resolution (mediation)

It is our view that mediation is the gold standard of dispute resolution. It allows you and your ex to remain in control of the arrangements put in place for your children and your finances, with the added benefit of an impartial third party to facilitate positive, helpful communication and work through any impasse. 

Mediation for children’s matters

Mediation for children’s arrangements allows you and your partner to discuss what is in your children’s best interests without having to pay $$ for lawyers and enabling a personalised approach, not distracted by what the ‘legal position’ is. It allows for direct communication which can promote understanding between you as people and parents instead of opposing ‘parties.’ Mediation is compulsory before applying to court for parenting orders. As an accredited family dispute resolution practitioner I am able to issue the necessary Section 60I certificate for court applications.

It is a flexible process. If there is domestic violence or power imbalances, we put measures in place to ensure that the safety of both parties and their ability to negotiate freely is preserved, such as a ‘shuttle’ process where each of you are in different rooms. If there is a dispute about what the children’s wishes are, we can arrange for an expert ‘child consultant’ to speak with your child/ren in an age-appropriate way and bring feedback into the mediation to guide the discussion and keep it focused on what is in your individual child’s best interests. 

There can be just one session, or multiple sessions in order to progress time arrangements in a way that is comfortable, safe and easy for the child. 

In children’s matters, mediation is suitable at any stage. In fact, engaging a mediator immediately after separation can be hugely beneficial in setting a positive tone for communication with your ex about all arrangements in the future. There is no ‘wrong time’ for mediating about children, with the exception of urgent matters involving abuse, neglect or removal of the child from the city/state/country. In those cases, report any concerns around risk of harm to child protection and seek immediate legal advice. 

The first step in mediation is to organise an intake appointment. After your intake appointment we will invite the other parent to book an intake appointment. If they refuse or do not respond we can issue a section 60I certificate. After the second parent’s intake session, we assess for suitability and either organise the joint mediation session or if not suitable issue the certificate.

Mediation for property matters

In contrast to children’s matters, there is a most beneficial time for mediation in property matters – after the parties have exchanged full financial disclosure and have each obtained legal advice.

Why? Because property settlements are more technical and need to satisfy the legal requirements for ‘just and equitable’. Without legal advice, one or both of you might be operating on what you have heard from a friend etc, which is often incorrect, leading to a misunderstanding of how the process works and your entitlements which can make it impossible to find common ground. Without full financial disclosure, there is often missing information which also makes it impossible to come to an agreement about how the property can be divided.

Does that mean you should wait until both those things are done before contacting us? How do you even go about exchanging disclosure?

You do not need to wait to contact us.  We can assist with case management to exchange disclosure. In addition, sometimes it can be useful to mediate prior to these things being completed as it can reduce the amount of issues in dispute and provide a roadmap for resolving the dispute.

What is the process?

We will conduct an intake with you, invite your ex and conduct an intake with them. After the intakes are complete, we will wait for confirmation from each of you that you have exchanged disclosure and had legal advice before scheduling the mediation. If you require assistance we can provide case management services at an additional cost.

We will write up the agreement in a format that is easy to convert into consent orders. 

Legally assisted mediation

We are able to offer legally assisted mediation. This means that you are able to have your lawyer attend the mediation with you. The costs are the same for legally assisted mediations, however the process may differ somewhat depending on whether you want a facilitative model of mediation where you as the client are communicating directly with us and the other party/parent with the support of your solicitor, or a legal conferencing model of mediation where the lawyers communicate directly with each other negotiating on your behalf. We highly encourage legally assisted mediation in property settlement matters as this can break down some of the disputes.

For parenting matters only, lawyers can be very useful for some matters, while other matters are better for mediations to be held with only the parents. Lawyers are very useful for providing advice about children’s matters to ensure you understand your legal position and reality testing to break through impasses. However, sometimes negotiations involving lawyers can lead to misunderstandings between the parties (as they are only hearing generally a third hand account of the other parent’s position) and unfortunately, some lawyers practice in unhelpful ways in mediation which can lead to protracted proceedings and court instead of the parties working together to focus on the children, or resolving property matters in a way that doesn’t cause mental health and financial difficulties for both of you. However, there are more and more family lawyers who are trying to do better, including collaborative family law processes. Choosing a lawyer that understands that aggression has no place in family law is vital and a step towards healing your family after separation.