Parents’ roles

Your collaboration as participating parents is essential to the success of the mediation process.

This section presents the main conditions you must meet.

To show your commitment to the mediation process, you must meet the following conditions:

• your decision to take part in mediation must be voluntary;
• you must negotiate, with help from the mediator, without undue constraint;
• you must participate actively in the discussions, and cooperate to the best of your ability;
• you must accept the principle that the mediation cannot impose a solution;
• you must behave honestly at all stages in the process;
• you must disclose all the information needed to understand the situation.

As parents, you must complete the following tasks:

• you must think about the various options for custody of your children and access rights;
• you must draw up, or help draw up, budgets for the parents and children;
• you must list your property, with an assessment of its value;
• you must provide all relevant documents.

As needed, during all stages of mediation:

• you may have to obtain supplementary information and independent opinions;
• you may have to contact outside resources (lawyer, notary, therapist, real estate agent …);
• you may have to assess, with the mediator, the possibility of having your children take part directly in the mediation process.

When the mediation process comes to an end:

• you must complete the tasks that are your responsibility to ensure that your agreement is implemented and applied;
• you must take steps to obtain a court judgment, if needed.