Countrywide Mediation your local choice for mediators to resolve issues around children access, finances when couples separate or divorce. Contact us today.
Countrywide Family Mediation
It seems that legal disputes are never far from the news. Whether it is a celebrity couple that is divorcing, an employee who is taking legal action against their employer, or two neighbours in a battle over the ownership of a piece of land, our papers are filled with the latest details of court cases. In many cases, people will turn to a solicitor to solve their problems when all else has failed.
They may even have tried to talk to the other party about the dispute first, only to find that this approach has not succeeded. Whether it’s a celebrity couple that is divorcing, an employee who is taking legal action against their employer, or two neighbours in a battle over the ownership of a piece of land, our papers are filled with the latest details of court cases. In many cases, people will turn to a solicitor to solve their problems when all else has failed after having tried and failed to resolve the problem themselves.
There are many problems associated with a legal approach to these disputes. The first is that they are associated with large costs. Solicitors fees can be very high and can escalate as a dispute continues. We have all seen cases in the paper where what seems like a small argument, perhaps over the size of a neighbours hedge, can become an expensive legal dispute, costing tens of thousands of pounds. Once legal action starts it tends to snowball until costs are disproportionate to the original case.
Secondly, legal battles can take a long time. The law is ancient and complicated, with many legal cases and precedents over time. This means that a solicitor, if they are doing their job correctly, will examine the whole body of law relating to your case. This, and the time taken to attend court, can be very stressful.
A solution to these problems is to try an approach called mediation :-
- Even if you have already tried to solve the dispute by talking together, mediation can help you to resolve your issues.
- Mediation is much cheaper than a legal solution.
- A mediator can help you to resolve your dispute more quickly than a court case would.
About mediation
In mediation, a qualified, expert, mediator will initially want to meet or be in contact with each party in the dispute to make sure that each party agrees to mediation and knows what it involves. Following this, you will enter into a series of mediation meetings to discuss, and attempt to resolve, your case. The mediator will help you to move to a solution that you can agree on. At the end of mediation, the mediator will help you to form a written agreement that gives a record of your mutually agreed solution.
Family mediation your local solution
Unfortunately, every family will have its disagreements from time to time. Whether this concerns issues related to divorce or separation, care of children or an elderly relative, or problems around the use of land or property, a mediator can help you to find the solution that is right for you and your family. Our mediators are experienced in dealing with family members of all ages. They can explain the mediation process in simple terms which will help your family to feel comfortable with the meeting.
The benefits of family mediation are:-
- Unlike legal battles, mediation is a conciliatory process designed to help the family resolve issues in a constructive way.
- Mediation is much less costly and time-consuming than taking a case to court.
- The family moves to a solution they can all agree to.
Neighbour mediation
Disputes between neighbours are becoming more common and cases of ‘neighbour nuisance’ are increasingly being fought out in court. Legal, adversarial, approaches to neighbour disputes invariably lead to longer-term problems. By the stage that the disagreement has reached court, relations have inevitably broken down. It may be that you will have to live next to your neighbours for many years and it is important to maintain good relations with them. Whether the issue involves noise problems, the size of hedges or use of driveways and other areas, mediation is a sensible solution.
The benefits of neighbour mediation are:-
- Maintains good relationships between neighbours in the long run.
- Avoids legal battles being fought out in court with, potentially, publicity in the local press.
- The neighbours can move on from the argument with a written agreement which is of mutual benefit to them.
Workplace mediation
There are certain problems in the workplace, for example harassment or discrimination, which are so serious that the government advises that they are formally investigated. For other problems, mediation is an ideal solution. Disputes can occur between an employer and employee over issues such as working arrangements, relocation and contractual disagreements. There may also be disputes between employees through ‘personality clashes’, or disagreements over how work should be approached. Legal battles, involving trade unions and employers associations, can be prolonged and become ugly. However, mediation can help to resolve such problems quickly and effectively.
The benefits of workplace mediation are:-
- A productive, motivated, workforce who do not feel that they have to go to the union, or to the courts, to resolve their problems.
- A confidential service which employers can trust.
- The mediation can occur at your convenience, rather than at times specified by a court, or a union representative.
Commercial mediation
Disputes between business partners can be very destructive to the day to day operation of a company. Contractual issues, disputes over intellectual property and issues over boundaries and rights of way can lead to your profits and valuable time being compromised through legal disputes. Such cases can also produce bad publicity in the press, and through your professional networks. Rather than fight such cases out in a public forum, a mediator can help you to discuss and resolve these problems, arriving at a solution that each party is happy with.
The benefits of commercial mediation are:-
- Maintaining good, long term, commercial relations between you and the other party involved in the dispute.
- Negligible cost to the company.
- A solution that you are happy with, and will lead to business confidence in the future.