Would-be litigants avoid Family court backlog

15 July2012

Would-be litigants avoid Family Court backlog

Ordinary people are taking control of their legal matters in an effort to short-circuit the lengthy delays caused by growing backlogs in the court systems.

Would-be litigants are opting to avoid court waiting lists of up to two years by using dispute resolution services as a quicker, less expensive and more amicable alternative to Queensland’s under-resourced court system.

Dispute resolution centre Brisbane Mediations is offering free advice through a new initiative aimed at alleviating some of the Family Court’s backlog after recent reports  that litigants were waiting up to a year just to have their disputes heard.

Around the table with Mike is a free initiative introduced by Brisbane Mediations where anyone can talk to an accredited family dispute resolution practitioner and psychologist free of charge to obtain initial advice on dispute resolution.

Private mediation services assist parties in reaching voluntary resolutions that can be formalised as a binding court order and, unlike courts, utilise psychologists, social workers, solicitors, barristers and accountants, who can reduce the stress involved in litigation.

Brisbane Mediations Principal Mike Emerson said by opting for a private mediation, people could schedule mediations at short notice and avoid the costly court process, which has seen families lose their homes to fund legal bills.

“Although private mediation does involve an expense, it is by far more financially beneficial to avoid the courts,” Mr Emerson said.

“Many people who have had no experience in dealing with the law don’t realise that there is an alternative that can resolve their case extremely quickly, often reaching an agreement by the end of the day.

“Private mediation can save you from putting your whole life on hold or having to subject yourself or your children to the trauma of preparing for, and giving evidence in, court.”

People wanting to explore mediation can access it through their lawyer or approach a mediation agency directly.

Mr Emerson said the Around the table with Mike initiative would help introduce people to alternative dispute resolution in a friendly and relaxed environment.

The initiative will be held on the first and third Wednesdays of each month from 4pm until 6pm beginning 18 July 2012.

For more information visit www.brisbanemediations.com.au or phone 07 3839 7400.

                    

About Brisbane Mediations

The Brisbane Mediations panel has over 30 registered family dispute resolution practitioners including psychologists, social workers, solicitors, barristers and accountants. Brisbane Mediations is able to handle a variety of mediations including relationship, financial, workplace, organisational and child-inclusive mediations.

Mediating to avoid Court delays

One reason for using mediation is that unlike the court process, a mediation can be convened at any time to suit the parties.

Trials have become a very expensive process with courts under resourced and serious court delays resulting.These days it is not unusual for disputing parties to have to wait for a year or more to get a hearing.Particularly in the relationship area this is most unsatisfactory with parties having to put their lives on hold while they await a hearing.Sometimes it is necessary for properties to be revalued and other circumstances can change significantly.

Delays in getting a hearing are only part of the problem however as even after a final hearing parties often have to wait long periods for a decision.Courts do their best to avoid these delays, but they inevitably occur.As recently as last weekend there was a report in the Brisbane Courier Mail detailing delays in the Family Court and Federal Magistrates Court and the inpact they were having.

Mediation offers parties in dispute the opportunity to resolve their dispute without these delays.Mediation can be convened with little notice and scheduled quickly.Consequently because of the high success rate of mediation, parties  often resolve their disputes without the delays associated with court proceedings.Apart from being organised quickly, there is no waiting for an outcome, as if parties are able to reach a resolution, then they usually leave with an agreement which can be formalised in a court order.

Parties can access a mediation through their lawyer or approach a mediation agency directly.Some mediation agencies have waiting lists, however private mediation services can usually schedule mediations at short notice and of course with these services lawyers are usually welcome to attend so the parties have ready access to their legal advice in the course of the mediation.At Brisbane Mediations, we have over 30 mediators on our panel so there are no delays in scheduling mediations and lawyers are always welcome.In fact we generally find that lawyers are very helpful in achieving an outcome at the mediation.

The ability to convene mediations at short notice is one of the distinct advantages of mediation.Furthermore mediation has the flexibility of not having to be convened within court hours and the saving to the parties both in terms of costs and emotional distress is enormous.

Separated parents who love their children but can't agree

Parents who love their children will always put their chidren first. Won't they?

What if they are separated and don't like each other very much? That shouldn't make a difference should it?

What if they both think they are putting their children first, but disagree on what represents best parenting in a particular situation?

Today's Courier Mail at p.20 (link below) points to a case in which a separated parent couple disagreed on what school their little fellow could attend,with the outcome that each tried to enrol him at a different school and the schools quite properly both refused to accept the enrolments because, presumably, the parents had "equal shared parental responsibility" for their child so needed to agree on this issue.  Ultimately, the Family Court had to decide where their son would attend Prep.

The problem for this little boy was that he missed that exciting first day of school that many of us remember well into adulthood and he started school ten days late without friends he had made at daycare.  Even more importantly, his parents demonstrated that they were incapable of resolving a dispute over a most important and basic parenting issue.

Unless separated parents are able to develop strategies to assist them in co-parenting their children, the children's futures risk being fraught with difficulties and they may suffer negative psychological impacts.

Help is at hand in the form of post separation parent training programs and child focused mediation to assist parents caught in the blaming culture of separation conflict to accept their separated status and responsibilities as parents and to move on in a cooperative manner - even if for no other reason than to give their children the best possible chance of growing up as healthy adults who achieve their full potential.

http://bit.ly/KVBVB9

Brisbane Mediations

Mediation Facilitates Ongoing Relationships

Mediation facilitates ongoing relationships

Mediation is less likely to harm on-going relationships than litigation – commercial arrangements between suppliers and customers; parenting relationships between separated parents with mutual parenting responsibilities to fulfil; or working relationships between co-workers / workers and managers who have clashed in the workplace.

In mediation, disputing parties enlist the assistance of a neutral person (the mediator) to help identify issues in dispute and explore options and alternatives to reach an agreement that will accommodate their respective needs.

With litigation, however, courts review opposing versions of disputes and provide a decision based on the evidence in each side’s affidavits or stories about the dispute and what they say in court. The decision almost always endorses one view of a case and rejects the other, costs often being awarded to the successful party, thereby punishing the other.

Litigation by its very nature highlights and accentuates differences, with barristers’ cross-examinations exposing weaknesses in the other side’s version of events. Mediation on the other hand, looks for common ground and strives for agreement.

Litigation encourages a winner take all approach. Mediation looks for a win/win outcome.

Considerable damage is inevitably done to ongoing personal relationships (for example, between parents or between beneficiaries under a will) when each person, in seeking to have their version accepted, tries to destroy the other’s case. Similarly, in the commercial field, time in court is highly unlikely to engender an ongoing relationship – particularly when at the end of the day one party is the victor and the other the vanquished, left to pick up the pieces.

When a result is imposed by a court, one party may leave the courtroom happy and the other disgruntled and bitter. The trial process has most likely eroded the previous relationship even more and increased the chance that these people will struggle indefinitely to relate into the future – personally or commercially, as the case may be.

At Mediation, however, seemingly warring parties often shake hands or communicate in a genial manner at the end of the day, a copy of the signed agreement in hand as they leave. A result has been reached by consensus rather than by being imposed by a stranger.

Dignity has been maintained and the vestiges of a relationship remain intact with a chance of enrichment in the future. In the commercial arena there is every chance that the parties will continue their mutually beneficial relationship, particularly where they have found a solution which ultimately accommodates the needs of both.

Mediation involves savings, not only in material costs, but also in costs to relationships.

Saving the Mediation.

Sometimes persisting and taking the extra step can save a mediation.

Mediated a property settlement arising from a marriage yesterday and things were progressing reasonably okay.

Late in the day however, when the parties were tiring, an issue arose in relation to the possible existence of a military pension derived from the husband's service over 20 years ago.The husband maintained there was no pension,as his years of service were insufficient, however the wife was concerned, after having located an old  bank deposit record which appeared to relate to the husband's service.

The wife wanted confirmation from Veterans Affairs that there was no entitlement, her solicitor insisting that the agreement reached be conditional on this.Both parties wanted finality however and the husband's solicitor was concerned that if the parties left with only a conditional agreement, the settlement might break down.

The only thing left to do to save the situation,was to contact Veteran's Affairs, however it was after 5pm and expectations were not high that the necessary information to satisfy the parties could be accessed.

Fortunately after the customary waiting period, we got through to a very obliging Departmental officer who on being advised of the importance of the information for the parties, unhesitatingly searched the relevant records and provided the necessary confirmation that there was no record of any military pension having issued or been applied for.

In these circumstances the parties were able to proceed to settlement with confidence and left the building with a signed agreement in a form suitable for lodgement with the court.

 Leaving without a final agreement may have placed the entire settlement in jeopardy, a situation neither party wanted, considering the modest pool and the potential costs of litigation.

Hidden Assets

http://brisbanemediations.com.au/publications/ASSETS%20-%20Disclosure,%20Hidden%20Assets%20&%20Working%20with%20Accountants%20to%20Locate%20Them%20(2012%20Update).pdf

Wills and Estate Mediations

Brisbane Mediations is very fortunate to have Patrick Wedge as a panel mediator.

Patrick specialises in wills and estate mediations and has extensive experience.

Patrick was the Deputy Public Trustee from 2002 until 2011 and served as Acting Public Trustee from February 2008 until March 2009.

Patrick previously practised as a Solicitor with the Crown Law Office until 2002.

Patrick is a nationally accredited mediator and Member of the Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators Australia(IAMA).

Patrick brings a unique mix of legal expertise and leadership skills developed in a public sector environment and is well placed to deal with public sector disputes and all aspects of disputes pertaining to wills and estates as well as family law issues.

Patrick is available to handle mediations at any time and can be contacted through Brisbane Mediations.