Mediate Michigan

A pilot project diverting legal-aid clients from acrimonious divorce-related court spats to mediation has been so successful that organizers want to make the project permanent.

“Our success rates are very high,” says Deb Miller, senior counsel for Legal Aid Alberta’s family law offices in Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge.

About 70% of the clients who participated in LAA’s family mediation program pilot project in Edmonton and Calgary were able to resolve their disputes. Not only is mediation better than the scorched-earth litigation tactics often seen in court, it saves clients and the system money.

The kids of divorcing and separating couples are less scarred, as well. “The level of animosity gets lower and lower in these mediations,” explains Miller.

via A better way to end a marriage | Mindelle Jacobs | Columnists | Comment | Edmonton Sun.