Mediation
At Bruce Dulley Family Lawyers we strongly advocate the use of mediation to resolve your conflict. Mediation is a dispute resolution process that can assist parties to settle their family dispute matter, or to narrow the issues in the dispute.
A mediator is an independent expert legal third party who assists in reaching an agreement by controlling the process of discussion and negotiation without entering into the content of the dispute. A mediation is held on a without prejudice basis and a party cannot be forced to settle at mediation. If the matter is resolved at mediation, the agreement needs to be formalised by way of a document being either a Financial Agreement or Consent Order to ensure it is legally binding.
The advantages of mediation include:
- reduced legal costs;
- reduced time spent on settling the matter;
- privacy of a mediator's office as opposed to the Court;
- increased control of the outcome and decision making process;
- increases the ability for parties to agree in order to promote an ongoing, healthy relationship where children are concerned; and
- early settlement allowing parties tomove on with their lives.
Mediation can be utilised at any stage of a family law matter and the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court direct that parties attend mediation prior to a matter being given a hearing date.
Bruce and his team are thoroughly experienced in dealing with property and financial settlement matters. If neither party can come to an agreement on how property and assets are to be divided, our family lawyers are able to advise and assist you in filing a Court application.
In the event the parties come to an agreement regarding division of assets, we can assist you in formalising your application for Consent Orders.