Family Mediation
Mediation is an alternative to family court. Susan Berry is a qualified family mediator who can assist both parties to a family dispute come to a resolution with less conflict outside of the traditional adversarial system.
All issues arising from a separation or divorce can be resolved at mediation, and mediation can be used to reach temporary and final agreements. Some of the issues that can be addressed in mediation are:
Parenting
- Temporary nesting arrangements
- Final Parenting schedules
- Communications when a no contact order is in place
- Decision-making for children
- Holiday schedules
- Parenting issues around substance abuse, mental health, or reunification
- Reviews of Parenting Plans for children’s ages and stages
- Conflict management
- Grandparent access and extended family issues
Child Support
- Income Determination
- Calculating table child support
- Shared Parenting
- Special expenses including daycare, medical expenses, education and extra-curriculars
- Child Support Reviews and Terminations
- Life insurance
- Extended benefits
Spousal Support
- Income determination
- Periodic and lump sum spousal support
- Tax issues related to support and property
- Spousal support reviews and termination
Property Division
- Financial Disclosure
- Equalization of net family property
- Valuing assets including real estate and businesses
- Sale or transfer of matrimonial home
- Capital property transfer or sale
- Corporate asset valuation and share
- Excluded Property (inheritances and gifts)
- Common-Law property division
What is a Mediator?
A family mediator is a neutral professional who explores the options available to resolve the parenting, support and property issues arising from separation and divorce. There are several different ways to attend mediation – with lawyers or without lawyers and open mediation or closed mediation.
Most people opt for a closed process and start without lawyers, and then have a lawyer review the agreements reached a mediation. Sometimes people who already have lawyers are unable to negotiate a settlement and the lawyers recommend a mediation process before taking the next steps in court.
The Mediation Process
Mediation follows a simple process: first both people involved in the dispute (and their lawyers if they have them) must agree to mediation. The mediator conducts a separate intake session with each person to assess the family for domestic violence, get a background on the issues and to explore if a mediated resolution is possible. If there is no possibility that the people can compromise to reach a resolution, mediation is not the right forum for the family. If there is a possibility of settlement and there are no power-imbalances that might lead to an unfair outcome, mediation proceeds.
An open mediation process means that the discussion and information at mediation may be relied upon if there is no settlement and the dispute moves into family court or an arbitration.
A closed mediation process means that the only reports and information that may be relied upon after the mediation ends is the MOU or Minutes of Settlement. If no agreement is reached, the mediator will provide a report simply stating that mediation was unsuccessful.
In a closed mediation process, the mediator may not be called as a witness at a future trial. Most mediations are closed in order to allow parties to freely discuss the issues and evidence in their case, as this tends to lead to a greater chance of settlement.
If you are interested in a Family Mediation Process, either as family law counsel or as an individual, contact charles@berryfamilylaw.ca for more information.