MEDIATION IN FAMILY DISPUTES

Abstract

The paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the application of family relations
mediation to dispute resolution in the area of parental rights (including child sustenance),
unmarried couples, family members, sharing property and other property issues ranging from
family relationships, national legal frameworks, to the Family Law and the Law on mediation in
dispute resolution of the Republic of Serbia, which represents the reference framework for the
parties to a dispute to settle the dispute by mutual consent.
At the same time, the paper devotes attention to family relations mediation at the EU level
through the so-called “The Vienna Action Plan” adopted with the aim of guaranteeing EU
citizens equal access to justice and promoting cooperation between judicial authorities. In the
legal systems of the EU Member States, the approach to mediation is not unique, that is, in
certain legal systems, mediation is mandatory before the court proceedings begin, whereas in
others, however, the presence of an information mediation meeting is mandatory but not
mediation itself, while the third approach implies that mediation is voluntary and optional (a
judge or lawyer presents to the parties the possibility of mediation, and the parties decide on that
at their own discretion), and, finally, there is an approach implying that mediation is not usable.
The main reason is that both national and international legal frameworks allow the party’s
autonomy much more space in creation as well as in resolving private legal relationships.
The paper analyses mediation as a specific ADR method focusing on family dispute resolution.