Mediation could become mandatory in all suitable family court cases.
This means separating couples must try to agree on their child custody and financial arrangements through a Family Mediator.
This could also reduce the backlogs in the family courts that have built up due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Couples work through their differences with a trained and accredited Family Mediator to reach an agreement during mediation.
Rather than have a judge tell them what to do, they can decide how to split assets during a divorce or work out who has the kids and when.
The proposals exclude those cases which include allegations or a history of domestic violence. Going to court would only then be seen as a last resort.
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