Mediation: A View from New Zealand

While laws, guidelines, and practices that fall under the category of family law tend to vary between states and countries, many practitioners find it useful to learn about how their professional peers in other locations are practicing to gain new insights and understand what similar roles look like in other places. 

Timothy McMichael is a mediator and accredited Family Law Dispute Practitioner located in New Zealand. The following is an updated excerpt of an article written for the Family Mediation Council’s Family Mediation Week in the UK. Here, Timothy highlights norms and trends that he’s seeing in Family Mediation in New Zealand. 

I moved from the United Kingdom to New Zealand in 2008, and upon my arrival, I began immediately to promote the vital practice of Family Mediation. Five years later, legislation was passed by the New Zealand government to formally introduce Family Dispute Resolution to the public and the Family Court system. 

Today, we have a strong model for Family Mediation in New Zealand. This model establishes that children are kept at the heart of Family Mediation processes. This model also outlines that, in most situations, separating or divorcing parents must try some form of out-of-court dispute resolution before they may file parenting or guardianship orders in the Family Court.

Within this model, 12 hours of professional support is provided to parents. These 12 hours can be used for Preparation for Mediation meetings, which entails one-on-one professional coaching prior to entering mediation, professional meetings with children, and session-based Family Mediation meetings. There is a financial contribution of about £250 (around $340 USD) that each parent will be asked to make to cover their 12 hours of professional support. However, if parents qualify for legal aid, they will not be required to pay anything. 

This model has always deeply focused on promoting and supporting separating or divorcing parties in New Zealand to engage in Family Mediation. What has changed about it today is that more importance is being put on ensuring that the voices of children are being heard accurately throughout the mediation process. This may be done by appointing an independent Child Consultant. 

A Child Consultant will meet with the children to better understand their wants, needs, and feelings, then convey that back to the parents. Consultants may even suggest that children participate in some meetings with their parents, though only under age-appropriate circumstances and under the supervision of the consultant. 

An additional shift seen in the Family Mediation model of New Zealand today is the increasing use of technology to help co-parents communicate and stay organized. Apps for co-parents, like OurFamilyWizard, are growing in popularity to support families in their communication as they navigate the process of Family Mediation and co-parenting into the future. 

The professional practice and model for Family Mediation in New Zealand will continue to evolve as international best practices change and as research points to new methods for effective Family Dispute Resolution.

About Timothy McMichael

Timothy is a People/Health/Justice Senior Manager and Change Leader. He has significant experience in establishing and supporting a range of services for various NGO’s across New Zealand. He is also an active Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner, Resolution Expert for OurFamilyWizard, and a contributing writer for Lexus Nexus. 

Timothy currently serves as a director of the Australian Chapter of AFCC and an Independent Director and Deputy Chair of Safe Network NZ. He has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the 2020 NZ Local Heroes Awards, the 2017 NZ Law Awards as Mediator of the Year, and the Resolution Institute 2015 Practitioner Award for his significant contributions to the development and promotion of dispute resolution in New Zealand.