Early intervention in contact disputes

A report, New Approaches to Contact, Contact Dispute Resolution: Early Intervention, based on the practice in Florida and California, proposes that couples be required to attend mediation and briefings on post-separation parenting before they can gain a judicial hearing. In calling for the project to be implemented in the UK, Mrs Justice Bracewell said: ‘If only our case load were approached differently, we could allocate our time better, concentrating on cases which really do need judicial intervention. Many long-running disputes might never become bogged down if there were sufficient early interventions.’