VICTORIA'S SERVICES: MEDIATION

Victoria is qualified to mediate parenting and financial issues. She has obtained extensive training in mediation and negotiation, including the Harvard Negotiation Skills Program and the CDR Associates Divorce and Custody Mediation Program. She is certified as a Comprehensive Family Mediator with Family Mediation Canada and a Chartered Mediator with the Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Ontario. Since 1990, Victoria has conducted hundreds of mediations regarding parenting arrangements, property division, child and spousal support, and related issues.

Victoria begins the mediation process by meeting with each spouse individually to discuss goals and concerns and to assess the capacity of the parties to negotiate. If the spouses are not yet working with lawyers, she will provide a referral and suggest that each person meet with a lawyer for a legal consultation early on in the mediation process. The lawyers are available to provide advice if needed during the mediation, and will review and provide independent legal advice before any mediated agreement is signed. Normally clients attend mediation sessions without counsel, although a 5-way meeting with counsel can be arranged to resolve challenging or technical issues.

Victoria helps the couple create an agenda of the issues they wish to resolve, collect and exchange information, uncover and share the needs and goals of each person, and develop an array of options for settlement. She will help the parties negotiate a settlement that works for both parties, and the children, in the best way possible. If experts such as valuators or counselors are needed, they are retained jointly.

While the number of the required mediation sessions varies with the complexity of the issues and the emotional dynamics between the parties, between four and six mediation sessions is common. Victoria will prepare a Memorandum of Understanding incorporating the settlements reached in mediation. Once the draft is in a form acceptable to both spouses, Victoria will forward the draft to the lawyers for review, amendment if required, and signing in the presence of the lawyers.

The mediation process allows couples to retain control over the decisions they make and to create customized settlements that work for the family. The skills and strategies for effective communication learned in mediation can be taken away to promote amicable coparenting after divorce. Mediation is also an effective way to resolve issues that arise in the future.

  • For more information on mediation, see www.fmc.ca