After years of envying the other Family Court jurisdictions in Ontario, Toronto’s family law bar finally has court-connected mediation.
We at Riverdale Mediation are honoured to have been selected to provide on-site and off-site mediation services for the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto. We will be operating under the name “mediate393”.
Anyone who is attending family court will have access to a trained and experienced mediator, at no cost, right in the court house, for motions and case conferences. We have mediators on-site (sixth floor at 361 University Ave. while the space at 393 University is under construction) five days a week, from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
On-site mediators are specially trained to work with people who do not have lawyers, or are in stressful circumstances. But lawyers who have a motion or case conference may also find a short mediation to be helpful, either to canvass settlement options or to narrow issues.
On-site mediators generally handle single issue matters, such as emergency child support or access, parenting plan implementation issues, or interim settlements. The mediation is voluntary and confidential.
If parties want to mediate but require longer than two hours, the on-site mediator will refer them to off-site mediation. This is available for anyone in Toronto, whether they are in court or not. Off-site mediation is also voluntary and confidential. The program provides up to eight hours of mediation (including private intake meetings) at a cost that is subsidized, based on the parties’ incomes.
We are in the process of getting the off-site mediation program underway. If you have any questions about either on-site or off-site mediation, including fees and availability of mediators, please contact us at [email protected].
