3 Reasons why we are ‘Team Mediation’
As the name suggestions, at Olive Mediation we are ‘Team Mediation’.
Mel and Kristal wear two hats depending on the day.
We are accredited Family Dispute Resolution Practitioners (FDRPs) and we are experienced lawyers practicing primarily in family law.
As lawyers, we are trained to love legal arguments, reading the latest judgments and exploring how we can get the law to apply to various legal disputes. This is at the core of being an advocate. But equally something just does not sit right when applying the concept of litigation to families. Litigation has winners and losers. Litigation is incredibly expensive. Litigation is arbitrary in its application.
As mediators, we are trained to love facilitating difficult conversations, holding space for different perspectives to be shared and and empowering individuals in dispute to reach creative solutions.
Reflecting on the above, the 3 main reasons we advocate for mediation for families in transition are as follows:
Cost
Time
Flexibility
Cost:
The average family law matter can cost anywhere between $5,000 and $100,000 per party. That is a huge expense out of the marital asset pool. And that is assuming that matter is a property settlement. If parents are in dispute over parenting matters they are often taking out personal loans, going into debt or even self representing, due to the costs of lawyers simply being out of reach. On the other hand, the average private mediation cost starts at $880 per party. So in terms of costs, mediation wins every time as being a much more cost effective option.
Time:
Although the family law reforms brought about in 2021 sought to bring about quicker court outcomes and less delays. The reality is that court and litigation suffer from extensive delays. It is not unheard of for a court matter to take anywhere from 12 months to several years to resolve. This is even more notable in more regional areas such as the Central Coast.
The delays are also what adds to the expense. The longer a court matter goes on, the more expensive it becomes. The longer litigation goes on, the more people can become entrenched in their positions, conflict can increase resulting in incredibly negative outcomes for children and it can feel to parties that they will never truly preserve a positive relationship going forward.
On the other hands, while low-cost mediation options may sometimes take up to 6 months to obtain a mediation date, other private mediators like Olive can arrange to have a parenting or property mediation within weeks (sometimes sooner, depending on urgency).
So if you are wanting to consider the quickest way to resolve a dispute, Mediation has to be your first choice.
Flexibility:
Courts are still a traditional place. They have been often slow to respond to the changes in modern families and values. They also often provide a ‘standard approach” to orders and parenting arrangements. When it comes to financial determination of matters, they may have even less flexibility for arrangements that assist parties on a practical level. Conversely mediation is flexible and creative by nature. The parties are only limited by their imaginations in terms of coming up with child focused parenting arrangements that best suit their unique family.
In mediation you are not a case number, you are working collaboratively together with a trained and skilled neutral third party (known as a mediator) to reach the best possible outcome for your unique family.
To find out whether mediation is suitable for your case, book in a free 15-minute call with one of our mediators today on our website: www.olivemediation.com.au and learn how we can support you through this journey.
