Family Law Mediation is Cheaper than Court

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The mediation process in family law may involve disputes of child custody, child support, spousal support, division of property, equalization payments, implementation of domestic contracts, and divorce. We offer this family law mediation at DeRusha Law through our sister law firm, Family Mediation Works.

 

Famil law mediation involves a collaborative approach, where the parties can decide whether to use lawyers, each having their own, one party having a lawyer, or the parties may decide to resolve all conflicts without the use of any individual lawyers.

Instead, the mediator, who is also a skilled and experienced family law lawyer, may be able to mediate the conflict to an acceptable resolution. The final result may be an executed agreement with independent legal advice being sought by the parties, or if they choose not to proceed with independent legal advice, they decide that the agreement is understandable and to their satisfaction, without the need for engaging a lawyer. These are all the types of choices that can be made in the mediation process.

 

The purpose of family law mediation is:

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• To work with both sides equally, in exchange of basic information, and to put forward a proposal of resolution which reflects the application of the law and suits the individual needs and desires of both spouses.
   

• To arrange for the drafting of a legally enforceable, binding written agreement which reflects the resolution of all issues.
   

• If all issues cannot be resolved, but only some issues can be resolved, to prepare written agreements that may resolve some of the issues.
   

• To make it possible for both spouses to report to the court (if the court system is necessary to resolve issues) that attempts have been made to mediate disagreements or issues. The court system expects parties to attempt this process rather than proceeding through litigation which is generally considered to be the last resort and only to be used after mediation and negotiation approaches have been unsuccessful.
   

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Our Family Mediators

 

Our family lawyers/family mediators can do it all -- from discussion to the final agreement. Unlike mediators from other areas, such as psychology, social work, and education, lawyer/mediators can do the legal work and draft the agreement to resolve all issues.

Mediators from other areas, even if they are “certified” by a family law mediation association, cannot draft a final agreement. They must send the parties to lawyers at the end of the process, with some directions called a Memorandum of Understanding. Our family law lawyers/family mediators will complete all tasks, including the final and legally enforceable Separation Agreement.

 

Our lawyers know family law and are trained in family law; some are Certified by the Law Society of Ontario as Family Law Specialists (a special approval and continuing education must be maintained for this designation), or have Masters degrees, including in Family Law, or in Civil Litigation (Dispute Resolution), or have been appointed by the Superior Court of Ontario as Dispute Resolution Officers (DRO), conducting Case Conferences for parties and their lawyers in the family law process.

 

Your situation may require the most qualified family law mediator. Lawyer/mediators are the only mediators that can prepare the court documents for divorce or attend in court for court orders. In mediation, you should have a mediator that knows what the courts and law would do as part of your considerations. The time and cost is reduced when you have a lawyer/mediator that can do it all.

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Both sides will engage in discussions about the mediator and mediation process at the initial mediation consultation. Thereafter, we could go right into the mediation consultation process.
 

 

The First Step in Family Mediation

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Your first step is to contact our office and go through an initial questionnaire.  You may call our office during regular business hours at 905-625-2874 or email. Or you may complete our Contact Form which will be reviewed by one of our senior lawyers before we contact you.
 

Learn more about our Family Law Mediation Process.

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