Contact Us for Mediation/ADR in Bendigo & Regional Victoria | Mark Walters Mediation (Bendigo, Victoria)

Divorce, Relationship Breakdown and Family Disputes

The breakdown of a relationship precipitates not just a divorce but the need for parties to sort out their parental responsibilities and their financial affairs.

• Divorce itself can be granted simply on evidence that the parties have been separated for a year.
• Children and property are harder to sort out.

A qualified, experienced, sensitive and professional mediator can help.

Areas Of Family Law and Family Disputes

Areas of Family Law and Family Disputes for which Mark Walters provides mediation services

• custody of children
• access to children
• property disputes, including reality testing approaches to trust and tax issues and to issues regarding the value of things that are hard to assess, like interests in family companies and businesses
• family dispute resolution, including parenting issues such as:
  • who children can associate with
  • what sports or activities they engage in
  • what school they go to
  • if they go to a private school, how the costs are to be shared

Family Law Mediation in Bendigo and Regional Victoria

Regional Victoria in general, and Bendigo in particular, are serviced by the Federal Magistrates Court which comes to regional centres for one week “sittings” regularly through the year.

However the Federal Magistrates Court, and indeed all courts whether hearing family law disputes or other kinds of civil disputes, now invariably require parties, before they will be permitted to proceed to a Court hearing of their dispute, to participate in mediation in a bona fide way.

It is therefore necessary and consistent that mediation services be offered and available on the same basis, i.e. in the regional centres, rather than requiring parties and their lawyers to travel to Melbourne for this part of the dispute resolution process.