Choosing a Mediator for Child Matters during COVID-19

When a child’s parents do not live together, they will decide how the child’s care should be distributed. Child custody disputes may be politically charged, particularly in cases involving divorce or dissolution of a relationship.

However, if parents can put aside their disputes and come to an understanding without interference from the judge, it would be less difficult for those involved.

One choice that helps parents to decide custody of a child without the intervention of the courts is child custody mediation.

Most family law attorneys may claim that alternate dispute resolution (ADR) methods such as Family Law mediation, arbitration, and partnership are more successful than family law lawsuits. Regardless of COVID-19, (ADR ) is the only direct alternative available to others.

Several family courts hold proceedings electronically through Zoom, but they are often unable to settle non-emergent conflicts. As of now, judges are not requiring mediation through Zoom, so attorneys and clients will decide to join.

What Is Mediation?
Most divorced spouses use mediation to help settle problems relating to divorces, such as compensation, property separation, and child custody. In divorce mediation, the spouses hire a neutral third party (the mediator) to help them discuss and resolve their differences. Many divorce mediators are qualified family law lawyers who have received advanced mediation training.

Throughout the area of family law, mediation is an efficient, non-adversarial form of alternate conflict settlement where parties try to settle matters of separation, custody, and control, property distribution, and child care.

Benefits of Mediation

The mediation process is normally private and mediation is usually performed without a trial reporter. As such, parents should talk openly without fear of someone knowing what has been addressed. Mediation is a considerably more cost-effective method for settling custody issues than intervening in protracted lawsuits.

Mediation also tends to reduce the tension or hostility toward parents, since it works on alleviating conflict.

Preparation for Child Custody Mediation

There are several crucial steps to take before you start mediating child custody:
• Try getting professional advice from a lawyer: it’s best to engage in consultation with a good knowledge of your custody rights and obligations.
• Write down detailed daily routines for you and your kids.
• Prepare your plan for custody and visits.
• Keep any appropriate information for your child, including vital medical reports, index cards, and any correspondence from your child.

Reasons to Choose Mediation for Your Family Law Matter

1. Control

Control and certainty appear to elude us all, as we begin to experience an unpredictable return to what we know as “natural” before. Unlike the traditional litigation method, the settlement process now helps parties to influence the outcome of their dispute – and not, ideally, in the immediate future at an undetermined date.

If the parties choose the mediation process, the parties or their representatives decide on a mediator by mutual consent. The mediator is an impartial facilitator with no power to select a settlement or decide on any part of the situation. The mediator is there to foster discussion and to help the parties overcome.

2. Creativity

Mediation gives the parties the ability to be creative when a settlement is reached, while the court may be limited in its powers. The innovative value of mediation is especially evident now in the middle of the novel coronavirus pandemic which has put a screeching halt to all but usual court operations.

3. Confidentiality

The mediation process is private, confidential, and entirely voluntary, meaning a group or mediator may cancel it at any time. Individuals who want to mediate in their family law issues that never have to reach a courtroom or turn over their cases before a judge, a virtual outsider, which has little actual everyday experience about their family’s structure.

In these uncertain times, the non-adversarial mediation process will allow the parties to sit down and have tough discussions about what life will be like when they agree to split their households.

This shared effort to accept communication with a mutual objective of getting on with each other’s lives will be crucial as the wages and lifestyles of the participants may be deeply changed, and also their own emotional and physical well-being.

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You should contact Mediations Australia if you are interested in learning more about the mediation process and how it can help you overcome your family problem amid COVID-19. We believe that almost anything relating to family law can be settled by our proven family law mediation process.