MEDIATION – WILL DISPUTES
Mediation is an excellent cost effective way of resolving all disputes in relation to Wills and Probate. The main purpose of mediation is to enable the parties to reach a binding agreement and save themselves the considerable emotional and financial cost of battling out their dispute in Court before a trial Judge. It gives the parties much greater control over the outcome of a dispute than they will have if a Judge has to decide the dispute at a trial conducted a year or more after legal proceedings are commenced in the County Court or the Supreme Court.
Mediation can be conducted even before legal proceedings are commenced by agreement between the parties to the dispute. In any event it will be ordered by the Court once a legal proceeding has been commenced.
Mediation is a totally confidential process. The parties agree to appoint a qualified mediator and then meet at an agreed mediation Centre. To begin with they meet in a general session conducted by the mediator. The lawyers for each party state their case. Then each party goes to their own break out room and the mediator moves between the rooms to broker a deal or an agreement that all parties can accept. If an agreement is reached it is recorded in writing and the dispute is resolved once and for all.
At a mediation anything said cannot be disclosed to any third party or the Court if the dispute doesn’t settle and it is sent off to trial.
Trials are very costly, time consuming and emotionally draining. That’s why mediation is a such an effective way of avoiding all that expense and trouble.
In our experience more than 95% of cases settle at mediation and we do our best to have a mediation convened as early as possible once a dispute has arisen or a legal proceeding has been commenced.
By the end of a successful mediation our clients are often relieved and pleased to get on with their lives free of the cost and hassle of litigation.
For any inquiry about our legal services, no obligation, call Probate Excellence (03) 9013 8597