For divorcing and separating couples, Wednesday 6 April was very important. The government changed the rules and the paperwork required in many divorce and family law cases, but most significantly, in a move that has attracted some publicity already, the government has said that in most cases, couples who want to issue a divorce or family law matter at Court should first give mediation a try.
Lawyers are trying to make sense of the new rules too. Local lawyer David Winnet has just qualified as a Mediator and his firm Hopkins Solicitors is about to set up a separate service called "Notts Mediation".
Though there are exceptions, most people won't simply be permitted to start a divorce or other Family Court action, unless they have first tried mediation. The government wants people to think about using mediation, and yet most people don't really know what it is.
David describes mediation as a voluntary process in which an impartial third party mediator (whether there is Court case or not) helps those family members reach their own informed decisions by mediation. The mediator can't make decisions for a couple, nor take sides, but he can really help a couple negotiate in a civilised way, that takes a lot of the sting and bitterness out of the separation, and speeds up the negotiation process, which can be very involved, expensive and stressful, through the traditional Court process.
Both David and other commentators believe that the Government has woken up to the fact that "messy" divorces create lots of public expense - not just Court time, but ill health, absences and so on - and that the drive towards so called "alternative dispute resolution" such as Mediation and Collaborative Law, recognises the fact that if people can remain "amicable" it generally causes less strain on the public purse.
David's interview on the Frances Finn show about Mediation is available on BBC Radio Nottingham's i-player until midnight on Wednesday 13 April.
