The legal issues surrounding the breakdown of a relationship usually come with a lot of emotional baggage that can make them worse to deal with on your own. Naturally, it’s prudent to seek out the expert consultancy of an experienced family law mediator, so that you can resolve the dispute as quickly and painlessly as possible.
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What are the benefits of family law mediation?
Source: Legal Education Society of Alberta
Family law mediation is an effective means of helping disputing parties come to a mutually agreeable resolution regarding whatever issues they have. These negotiations are usually held to come to arrangements about child custody and property settlement on your own terms, rather than having them mandated by a judge in court.
In the family law system, divorcing parties are encouraged to settle matters like child custody and property settlement via mediation. This is done because there is already a back-log of cases waiting to be litigated in family courts and because agreements reached via mediation are generally longer lasting and less likely to lead to further acrimony between the separating parties.
According to O’Sullivan Legal, before matters like child custody can be heard in a courtroom, parties are required to have made a sincere attempt to pursue mediation on these issues because of how much better a mediated outcome is. It’s also preferable for each party individually as they avoid the stress and expenditure of a court trial.
Needless to say, it’s highly beneficial to resolve disputes through this form of professionally guided negotiation. While parties are free to come to private agreements, professionally mediated settlements are less likely to fall apart later on because they have been supervised by each parties’ solicitor, helping to ensure that no side is exploiting the other.
How to ensure your family law mediation is successful
Source: Geller Law and Mediation
Ensuring that you have a successful mediation depends on defining your parameters for success and enabling your family law lawyer to do the best job they can. The last thing you want to do is end up hindering the progress of the negotiation or causing yourself to walk away with less than you deserve.
The following will examine some tips you can use to ensure you have a successful family law mediation.
1. Leave your emotions at the door
While this is obviously easier said than done when you’re going through a divorce, you’ll have the best chance of success when you go into all official matters with a calm and calculated mindset. Walking into a room with your ex can be difficult, especially if the split was particularly acrimonious, but allowing your thoughts about them to cloud your judgement is likely going to hinder your position.
2. Don’t seek to punish your ex
The biggest mistake you can make when going into family law mediation is to have a vindictive agenda to deny your ex’s access to their children or take as much as you can from when dividing marital assets. This approach is unlikely to pay-off for you and will make the whole ordeal take longer than it needs to resolve.
Even if you ex seems determined to thwart you, don’t respond in kind but remain calm. If the case does need to go to court, it’ll be clear to the judge which side has been aggressive in pursuing an unfair outcome.
3. Listen to your lawyer and stand your ground
You’ve hired your lawyer for a reason – don’t second guess their expertise just because you don’t like the predictions they make. Sometimes you may need to make a compromise with your ex that, while seeming unfavourable, is the best you can get.
On the other hand, it’s possible to settle for less than you deserve simply because you want the nightmare to be over. If you lawyer is advising you to hold out for more, listen to them and don’t give up.
