Posted: Friday, 4 January 2019 @ 13:43
One of the problems that individuals face in an executor/beneficiary dispute is the difficulty in getting resolution via the Courts.
Put bluntly, if you ever do when to take the matter to Court the cost can be prohibitive and the time taken to get to Court painfully slow.
Given this, mediation is often a sensible move within inheritance disputes.
Typically mediation works well as by the time the mediator gets involved all the parties are getting tired of the dispute no matter what they are conveying to each other. Therefore they will make more effort to settle.
My experience of probate disputes is that often subtle and underlying family dynamics are at play and mediation is a good way to address this provided the mediator knows what he or she is doing.
It is worth also considering......
Mediation is effective
– 80% of cases work for mediation and have a successful resolution.
Contrast this to the litigation process which is unpredictable, produces
winners and losers and the remedy is blunt and offers limited solutions.
Clients like it
because they can resolve disputes in a way that they are familiar with,
namely negotiation.
It offers more solutions – A court is often limited in what it can award. Mediation
allows for a variety of decisions to be made.
Speedy –
The ground covered in mediation would often have taken months in a
traditional negotiation.
Confidential…litigation
often takes place in a public forum. Mediation is both without prejudice
and confidential.
Enforceable
– A settlement contract within mediation can be enforced like any other
contract though it may not be as readily enforceable as a judgement of the
court.