What are the main advantages of mediation over litigation?

Mediation is less expensive, more flexible, confidential, and focused on future solutions. It also helps preserve relationships and allows Parties to have control over the outcome.

How does mediation impact ongoing disputes?

Because Parties are involved in creating and accepting their own solutions, they are more likely to abide by the agreement and face fewer future disputes related to the settlement.

Who decides the outcome in mediation?

The Parties involved in mediation decide the outcome themselves. The Mediator helps facilitate discussions, but the Parties hold a fifty percent veto right on proposals and make the final decision.

What makes mediation more informal than court proceedings?

Mediation is not governed by Court Rules or the Law of Evidence and does not take place in a court. It can be conducted online from home, making it more relaxed and flexible than traditional litigation.

What makes mediation more informal than court processes?

Mediation is not governed by Court Rules or the Law of Evidence and does not take place in a courtroom. It can be conducted online or in any suitable location, making it more flexible and informal.

Why Families Choose Mediation

Ten Important Advantages of Mediation

Families choose family & divorce mediation because it provides a cost-effective, structured, confidential and future-focused alternative to litigation. Rather than having decisions imposed upon them by a court, mediation provides parties with an opportunity to participate directly in discussions concerning their future arrangements.

While no two families’ situations are the same, mediation provides a number of important advantages to help parties to resolve their disputes more constructively and with less conflict.

Mediation Provides a More Informal Process

An advantage of mediation is that it is a far more informal process than litigation. Mediation does not take place in a courtroom and is not governed by strict rules of evidence or court procedure. The process is designed to create a more comfortable environment in which parties can discuss issues openly and explore possible solutions. Where online mediation is used, parties may even participate from the comfort of their own homes or offices.

The Parties Retain Control Over Decisions

A Mediator does not determine the outcome of a dispute. The Mediator merely helps the Parties to work towards settlement of their dispute. The Parties make the decision on what their final settlement will look like. This process is not a unilateral one. In other words one Party alone does not decide the outcome. Both Parties play a critical role in determining whether there will be a settlement. Each Party holds a fifty percent veto right on whether to accept the other’s proposal. The principle of Party self-determination ensures that Parties are better able to come up with their own solutions to meet their family’s needs. Self-Determination includes the Parties’ right to terminate the Mediation and take the matter to Court.

Mediation Helps Parties Find Workable Solutions

Mediation helps parties to focus on practical and workable solutions rather than on blame for past events.`All proposals put forward by the Parties are assessed from a reality- testing perspective. In other words, solutions must be realistic and workable. Mediation focuses on the future and what that future will look like through each’s Parties’ eyes. It does not get caught up with the past and assessing past conduct – that is what a Court will do.

Mediation Helps Reduce Conflict

By encouraging respectful communication and a structured discussion process, mediation assists the parties in reducing the intensity of their conflict and focusing more clearly on future arrangements. By retaining a future-focus it helps to prevent arguments about whose conduct was right or wrong. This helps to avoid exacerbating the hostility between the Parties.

Mediation Preserves Family Relationships

Family & Divorce Mediation assists in preserving important family relationships.Litigation on the other hand places sever strain on family relationships, and the damage can at times be irreparable.

Mediation Saves Time

The process is not bound by time rules. It is a process that can take place at any time, and at any place. Because it is an informal process, it is not dependent upon the availability of a Court nor is it dependent upon the availability of a Judge. All it requires is a time and date when the Mediator and the parties are available.

Mediation Saves Money

Litigation is often very expensive and may involve a number of additional costs throughout the process.The cost of a Mediation process is far less than what it would cost to take a matter to Court.

Mediation is Voluntary

Parties are free to choose is they want to attend Mediation. Because mediation is a voluntary process, they can choose if they want to settle their dispute and how they want to settle it, they are much more likely to abide by what they have agreed on. The impact of this is that they are less likely to have ongoing future disputes about any mediated Agreement which they have jointly agreed upon.

The Mediator is Neutral

The Mediator does not judge the Parties nor determine the issues in dispute. The Mediator’s role is that of facilitating discussions to help the Parties resolve their dispute and reach a settlement agreement.

Mediation is Confidential & Without Prejudice

All discussions held during the mediation are confidential. Decisions are not binding unless they are reduced to writing and signed by the Parties. Confidentiality is one of the cornerstones of mediation and allows parties to speak more openly than they might feel able to do in a public court process.

Mediation: In a Nutshell

Mediation provides parties with a structured and confidential process in which they can communicate more constructively, explore practical solutions, make informed decisions concerning their future arrangements, reach mutually satisfactory outcomes.

For many families, mediation offers them an opportunity not only to resolve a dispute, but also to do so in a manner that preserves maintains personal and family dignity and supports the family’s ability to continue to achieve sustainable outcomes should conflict rear its head in the future.

Advantages of Mediation