About
Amy Marx-Bernard qualified as an Attorney and Notary in 2014 and has extensive experience in Family Law matters. She obtained both her LLB and Master’s degrees at the University of Pretoria. Amy is a qualified Mediator and has international and local accreditation as a Family Law Mediator. Amy opened her mediation practice in 2021, with the hopes of saving people time and money when seeking a divorce, maintenance agreements and parenting plans. Amy has dedicated herself to furthering her education and offering a service that is professional, effective, impartial, and affordable. As Amy is a practising Attorney, she will be able to finalise the legal aspects of your divorce, maintenance agreements and parenting plans after the mediation process has been completed. We strive to make the process of Family Law disputes time and cost effective for our clients.
About Mediation
You don’t need to understand every aspect of mediation, in your introduction and pre-caucus session you can ask as many questions as you’d like.
What is mediation?
Mediation is…
The intervention of an acceptable third party in a negotiation or conflict. This third party has no or very limited decision-making power, the role of the Mediator is to assist the involved parties in voluntarily reaching a mutually acceptable settlement.
The Mediator is a completely impartial third party who is there to facilitate an agreement. The Mediator makes no decisions on behalf of the parties and attempts to teach the parties how to deal with future conflict.
Why mediate Family Law matters?
Mediation vs Litigation
Mediation has a far lower level of hostility than that of litigation. There must be a winner and a loser in litigation, however in Family Law matters neither party win. In mediation the parties involved have complete control of the outcome and can make a mutually beneficial agreement. There are almost no time delays and a matter can progress quickly. The costs of litigation are extremely high where the cost of mediation are far lower. Issues that are not usually dealt with by the court can be addressed in mediation.
Is mediation right for me?
Will the fighting ever stop?
During Family Law conflicts often children or business or other shared interests cause the parties to remain in each other’s lives. Mediation is the best attempt to retain an operational relationship between the parties. There are varying levels of conflict and for each a form of mediation. Any parties who wish to sort out conflict quickly and without huge cost is a candidate for mediation. However, a Mediator can decide to refuse your case and refer you to separate lawyers.