Parents’ roles
Your collaboration as participating parents is essential to the success of the mediation process.
Here are the main conditions you must meet:
- Commitment to the mediation process:
- your decision to take part in mediation must be voluntary;
- you must negotiate, with help from the mediator, without undue constraint;
- you must participate actively in the discussions, and cooperate to the best of your ability;
- you must accept the principle that the mediation cannot impose a solution;
- you must behave honestly at all stages in the process;
- you must disclose all the information needed to understand the situation.
- Tasks to be completed between mediation sessions:
- you must think about the various options for custody of your children and access rights;
- you must draw up, or help draw up, budgets for the parents and children;
- you must list your property, with an assessment of its value;
- you must provide all relevant documents.
- Tasks to be completed at any point during the mediation process, as needed:
- you may have to obtain supplementary information and independent opinions;
- you may have to contact outside resources (lawyer, notary, therapist, real estate agent …);
- you may have to assess, with the mediator, the possibility of having your children take part directly in the mediation process.
- Tasks to be complete at the end of the mediation process:
- you must complete the tasks that are your responsibility to ensure that your agreement is implemented and applied;
- you must take steps to obtain a court judgment, if needed.