How are debts owed to family members dealt with in divorce proceedings?
The first question for the court to determine is whether the debts are legitimate, and this is a...
Litigation and Dispute Resolution
Mediation is a confidential and voluntary process towards settlement that is facilitated by an independent person, the mediator.
The advantages of mediation as opposed to litigation are well known, namely to save cost and time and to try and alleviate the stress and anxiety usually suffered by the parties involved in disputes.
In particular, the benefits of referring contentious probate disputes (which we are here construing widely to include claims contesting a will, disputes over trusts and claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Families and Dependants) Act 1975) to mediation are usually experienced in the following ways:
The Civil Procedure Rules (the rules that govern contentious probate disputes) positively encourage parties to a dispute to explore settlement, including referring it to mediation. The Court has long since imposed tough costs sanctions for those parties that unreasonably refuse to at least attempt such steps towards settlement.
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