Family Mediation - Keeping Children out of Court 

The Family Law Courts are becoming increasingly clogged with emotional disputes concerning children.

Recent research has indicated that more than half of parents going through divorce and separation go to Court to dispute issues relating to their children.

This recent trend coincides with the dramatic increase in Care Proceedings following the case of Baby P.

These developments have increased the strain on both the Family Courts and CAFCASS, the Family Court Welfare Service. Such strains cause administrative delays, particularly in private law cases.

The Last Resort:

These points only add to the already well established fact that Court Proceedings should always be a last resort where children are involved.

There are alternative routes available to families to protect the best interests of their children.

Family Mediation:

Family mediation has on many occasions proved a quicker and less traumatic means of resolving family disputes than Court proceedings.

The less confrontational atmosphere of mediation often helps parents to keep their children's best interests at the forefront of their minds and to avoid the distractions and stress of drawn out litigation.

In some cases, where both parents are prepared to reach an acceptable solution, with the assistance of an experienced mediator, parents can retain full control of their case and avoid lengthy and costly proceedings.

Child contact and residence applications in particular can take more than 12 months to resolve and require 3 of more Court appearances.Therefore, although a successful agreement is not guaranteed by entering mediation, significant cost savings can be made by reaching an earlier resolution.

Additionally, once the terms of any agreement are sealed by the Court, the resulting Order has the same force as any other Court Order.

Rochman Landau LLP has a number of well experienced and approachable mediators who are specially trained in all issues of Family Mediation. Should you have any queries relating to the process and the costs related to it, then please do not hesitate to contact any of the following people:

Teresa Cullen - teresac@rochmanlandau.co.uk

Philippa Dolan - philippad@rochmanlandau.co.uk

Alan Langleben - alanl@rochmanlandau.co.uk

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