From April divorcing couples will be required to attend a Mediation Assessment meeting prior to being able to issue a Court Application relating to Matrimonial Finances or Children.The Mediator will assess whether Mediation is suitable. There will be limited exemptions to being forced to attend. Details not yet released.
Which Mediators are able to carry out these assessments is still to be announced.
In my experience Court is a place of last resort and a lot of people have already Mediated unsuccessfully and spent a lot of time negotiating either direct or via solicitors.
Is this planned? Another rushed piece of legislation like the dangerous dogs act?
Whenever I think of this I think of HIPS - a Government venture to offer a simple solution to a complex problem - gazumping. Well both HIPS and gazumping have disappeared for now. Lots of people made lots of money training others to become HIP providers. There are a lot of Mediation Training Courses available. My advice to anyone thinking of becoming a Mediator is...
don't give up the day job!!!!
4 comments:
The mediator helps couples identify the issues that need to be resolved, and guides each through the decision making process. The mediator remains neutral and helps keep the negotiations flowing, in order to reach an agreeable resolution for both parties.Divorce mediation is an effective alternative to court litigation for resolving disputes that arise as two people separate their lives.A mediator, acting as an impartial third party, helps couples work through the issues of their divorce to reach a mutually
agreeable settlement. This is a voluntary process which allows couples to retain control over the outcome of their divorce. Nice information.
I think that the non-adversarial nature of mediation is ideal for this type of conflict. Taking the time to speak their minds is also very therapeutic and as both sides are agreeing to talk through the issues to try and find a resolution, this generally bodes well for future communications if there are family issues they have to deal with in the future.
Jean Smith
ADR Researcher
I think it's good that couples considering divorce would be required to attend mediation. It gives them one last chance to try and work things out before they finalize anything.
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