Mediation

Colibri Lawyers has developed a great expertise in the field of mediation. We act quickly and efficiently to safeguard your rights. Our team will commit to represent your interests and provide you with quality services.

Civil, Commercial, Workplace Mediation

Mediation is a simple, flexible and usually faster and less expensive option than a trial to settle your differences.

Outside the family domain, mediation can also be used in civil, commercial and workplace matters. Mediation can also be used in cases that must proceed to the Court of Quebec, Small Claims Division.

The role of the mediator is to help you find solutions that will suit everyone. For example, the mediator will facilitate communication and encourage the exchange of information between the participants, or help the participants to target the different facets of the conflict between them.

Civil, commercial or workplace mediation makes it possible to find a solution in the short term, with a controlled cost and by making the parties actors in the resolution of their disputes.

The result is all the more accepted. It implements techniques that lead the parties to find the solution to their dispute themselves.

The mediator in civil, commercial or workplace matters ensures that each of the participants freely and fully communicates their needs and expectations to the other, so that the negotiation takes place on a fair and informed basis. The mediator also ensures that the needs of the participants are taken into consideration during the negotiation.

The mediator in civil, commercial or workplace matters must remain impartial. He cannot represent one of the participants, nor take sides with one of them.

The mediator in civil, commercial or workplace matters also does not make any decisions for you and does not give you any advice whatsoever. However, he may suggest that you consult specialists, depending on the nature of the dispute.

Mediation in family matters

Family mediation is a service offered to separating couples.

The objective is to mitigate the consequences of marital separation and aims to find solutions together with a family mediator in order to avoid having recourse to the courts.

Family mediation can be applicable for all families, whether the people are married or simply de facto spouses. Family mediation can also be applicable to couples who do not have children.

Family mediation has become the preferred alternative method of dispute resolution in matters of separation and divorce. Unlike the Courts, family mediation involves the cooperation of parents in finding solutions in the interests of the children, rather than a climate of confrontation and confrontation.

In a conflict situation, parents are often in the best position to find a solution to their problems. Indeed, they often know each other perfectly and know their needs and the interests of their children better than anyone.

The family mediator therefore works with the parents to find solutions that meet their needs and those of their children.

The topics discussed during family mediation meetings are as follows: the sharing of children’s living time, the issue of child support and the division of property. For married people, we add the division of the family patrimony and the matrimonial regime as well as the question of alimony for ex-spouses. Any other point can be discussed at the request of either party.

The role of the family mediator is to help you negotiate an agreement that will meet your respective needs and especially those of your children, if applicable. When mediation works, in 80% of cases, a summary of the agreements is written by the mediator.

In Quebec, the government has chosen to promote family mediation by offering citizens a few hours of mediation for free, namely:

• 5 hours of mediation during the breakup if you have dependent children;
• 3 hours of mediation during the breakup if you have no dependent children;
• 2.5 hours of mediation during a review of a judgment or an agreement in mediation if you have dependent children.

Family mediation is therefore intended to be a fast, inexpensive means that avoids recourse to the courts. The parties construct their own judgment and guidelines rather than having a judgment imposed on them.

Co-parenting/Parental Coaching

Co-parenting coaching aims to allow parents who are separated, divorced or who have made the decision to no longer live together, to arrive more easily at a style of functional co-parenting.

More and more families are likely to experience separation and the many challenges that come with it. It is recognized that the quality of co-parenting is a determinant in the adaptation of children to parental separation.

However, a cooperative and respectful co-parenting relationship is sometimes a difficult goal to achieve, especially in the first months of the breakup.

To support parents, new services have emerged, including co-parenting coaching. Co-parenting coaching aims to help parents following a separation by defining a parenting plan, to help them develop new attitudes or to help them apply a plan already developed with their lawyers or set by the Court.

With the help of a co-parenting coach, parents are able to continue to exercise their co-parenting by taking into account the needs of their children, their mutual expectations and their skills.

The goal of co-parenting coaching is also to ensure that children will not be caught between their parents whom they both love. Co-parenting coaching aims to allow parents who are separated, divorced or who have made the decision to no longer live together, to more easily achieve a functional co-parenting style.

The co-parenting coaching process takes into account the needs and interests of the children. The objective of co-parenting coaching is to achieve effective communication between parents, whether minimal or optimal, with the sole objective of meeting the children’s needs.

Co-parenting coaching aims to make parents understand that their parenting role will never end. Co-parenting coaching aims to teach parents to deal with the other parent in the best interest of the children. Co-parenting coaching aims to help parents find strategies that reduce conflict and thus allow any suffering or anxiety felt by children.

Co-parenting coaching helps parents restore minimal functionality to their parenting roles once separated. This is a systemic intervention that will reduce the impact of the separation conflict on the child. During the intervention meetings, the parents will be seen individually but also in pairs. Children can also be involved in the process, depending on their age, because they want to be heard but do not necessarily want to decide.

Coaching can also be used by only one of the parents, which is then called parental coaching. If either parent wants to work on their co-parenting and improve their parenting skills and communication, then the parent can do one-on-one parenting coaching. During parental coaching, the same aspects and topics as in co-parenting coaching will be addressed. It is obvious that co-parenting coaching is more effective since both parents benefit from the coaching at the same time and aims to work on common points together. However, the parent who decides to do parental coaching alone also demonstrates a great openness and maturity in order to begin a new journey. It is never too late to improve your co-parenting and change sometimes comes from the modifications that we ourselves are able to want to make.

Parental Coordination

Parental coordination is an intervention aimed at separated parents experiencing severe and persistent conflict, one of the primary objectives of which is to protect the child by promoting better parental communication and reducing the level of conflict.

Parenting coordination can be used by parents when family mediation and co-parenting coaching or parental coaching has not worked.
Some parents have tried family mediation but without success. The whole thing therefore leads to legal proceedings. The courts are therefore obliged to decide the points on which the parties do not agree.

Once the order is issued, the situation does not necessarily improve. In fact, it often happens that the current transition poisons the co-parenting relationship.

The parental coordinator is concerned with helping parents adapt to their new reality and make the transition in the best interests of the children. Cooperation between parents is essential and can only be established through effective communication. In a conflict situation, communicating effectively is no small task. The parenting coordinator can help you.

The parental coordinator has the following role:

• Reduce current conflicts
• Develop effective communication between the two parents,
• Help put the established legal agreement into practice by clarifying certain aspects of the short, medium and long-term parenting plan.
• Encourage the development of post-separation parenting skills for the well-being of children by taking their age into consideration and adapting interventions accordingly.

A judgment must provide for parental consent to this process. The services of a parental coordinator are retained on a voluntary basis by parents who have a legal agreement ratified by both parties or following a judgment rendered by the Court.

To follow up on the judgment rendered by a judge of the Superior Court, lawyers can contact a parental coordinator.

This is a long-term intervention that can last from 12 to 18 months.