http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8070122/Lawyers-to-be-kept-out-of-divorce-battles.html
Lawyers to be kept out of divorce battles
Lawyers will be kept out of thousands of family dispute cases every year in a shake-up of divorce laws.
By Nick Collins
Published: 7:30AM BST 18 Oct 2010
The number of divorce cases rose 16 per cent to 137,000 last year, with the average childcare case taking more than 12 months to be completed Photo: PHOTOLIBRARY
A government review is to recommend the introduction of a compulsory mediation stage before any financial or custodial dispute is heard in court.
The plan, to be published at the start of next year, will also introduce briefer and simpler hearings for cases that cannot be resolved by mediation.
David Norgrove, who is leading the review, described the "tremendous strain" being put on the current system by the rising number of disputes coming before the courts.
The number of divorce cases rose 16 per cent to 137,000 last year, with the average childcare case taking more than 12 months to be completed.
It is hoped that the new mediation stage will reduce legal aid costs by up to £100 million, while fewer expert witnesses would be required to testify before the courts.
Mr Norgrove told The Times the family justice system costs more than £1.6 billion, but that nine in every ten cases could be dealt with out of court.
He said evidence showed that: "If you can get both parties to learn about mediation, the great majority will go on to use it."
Sir Nicholas Wall, the most senior judge in England and Wales, said the system should be made "less adversarial" as he attacked selfish parents for failing to consider their children's wellbeing.
Under the new system, couples could be forced to take parenting classes as well as being referred to mediators, with court rooms acting as a last resort.
Judges would also be able to advise parents early into legal proceedings what the likely outcome would be, in an effort to force through an agreement and avoid long and expensive cases
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Mediation
ReplyDeleteBefore we really start talking seriously about mediation there are a few points that need to be cleared up. The organisations below do not encourage mediation. Why would mothers consider it when everything is going their way as it is? The government funds these organisations and their very working is in contradiction to the government saying families should work in harmony and we need to cut down on legal aid and social service, welfare costs. Millions could be saved if this farce was resolved.
1, a) The government is gender biased.
b) The government claims grandparents are important in children’s lives but they
refuse to recognise them as relevant person’s in children’s lives.
2, a) Social services refuse to talk to grandparents as they are irrelevant.
b) Fathers rights are not recognised by social services.
3, Woman’s Aid focuses on protecting woman and do not take into account the best
interests of children when they are tutoring women how to avoid contact with the
paternal side of a child’s family even if they have done no wrong.