Services

Sydney Mediation Partnership provides clients with:

  • Mediation services
  • Family Dispute Resolution
  • Conciliation
  • Mediation Training
  • Mediation and Negotiation Advisory Services
  • Negotiating
  • Referral service
  • Facilitating

Our areas of practice are:

  • Commercial
  • Business
  • Construction
  • Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) (see below)
  • Small Claims
  • Wills, Trusts and Estates
  • Workplace
  • Workplace
  • Mediation at Schools
  • Relationship Mediation

Sydney Mediation Partnership also provides mediation training for companies, businesses, govenment organisations, schools, hospitals and individual mediation trainers.

FAMILY DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Facilitators, Mediators and Registered Family Dispute Resolution Practitioners

The procedure involved in family dispute resolution is as follows:

1. A one-hour initial consultation with each party separately, in order to hear the issues from each party independently, explain the process in detail and assess the suitability of mediation. Initial consultations can be conducted by telephone. Telephone consultations proceed in the same format as initial consultations in person.

2. If mediation is suitable and all parties are willing, we arrange a mediation, whether it be face-to-face, shuttle mediation or a telephone mediation. One mediation sitting could last up to three hours but generally does not go for longer than three hours as people become tired and find it difficult to continue functioning constructively.. If there are still issues to resolve, we set down another mediation session to explore  remaining issues in dispute and attempt management and or resolution of the matter.

3. If a party elects to decline involvement in a dispute resolution process we, as dispute resolution practitioners are required to issue a Section 60I Certificate to all parties. The Section 601 Certificate generally states the reason the mediation will not go ahead, and allows either party to pursue their legal options including, filing court documents. At the initial consultation , we explain the Section 60I Certificate in more detail and the process involved.

4. If parties elect to proceed to mediation and all parties make a genuine effort in an attempt to manage or resolve the issues but fail, we would then issue a Section 60I Certificate saying so, and this allows each of the parties to go to Court for a determination.

Hopefully all issues can be managed and or resolved with our assistance.

Importantly, we are able to conduct child-inclusive mediation, which means the children have a voice in the mediation, without attending the mediation. To do this, we refer the children of parties to the mediation to a child psychologist, who specialises in helping children of separated families. After a number of sessions with the children (as determined by the psychologist), the psychologist is able to report to the parents during the mediation about how the children are coping and make any recommendations for future parenting arrangements that she has assessed as suitable in the circumstances.