ازدياد في عدد من يلجأ الى الوساطة قبل الطلاق

Hello and welcome to BBC Xtra English!

Today we talk about divorce and mediation.

From April this year, couples who wish to get divorced will have to go through what’s called a mediation assessment.

They will sit with a mediator who will help them decide if they might be able to separate out of court rather than fight their divorce in court.

The mediator sits down with the couple and talks to them about money, property and child custody (if they have children).

This option may turn out to be a lot cheaper for the couple as legal fees can be very costly for them.

Some people have also had positive experiences with mediators.

Alan Staffordshire told the BBC that he divorced with the help of a mediator.

At the start, he felt that there was no hope for him and that he would have had to go through a very costly divorce process.

However with the mediator, he was able to pay a small amount of money and solve his problems.

However David Lister, from the law firm Mischon de Reya said that mediation may in fact cause problems for the couple wishing to divorce.

He said that for couples who cannot stand each other, mediation offers them a forum with which they can criticise each other even more.

But it appears that more and more people are using the services of mediators.

The number of people using mediation has increased from 400 to 15,000 people in the last few years.

What do you think of mediation? Write to us in English!
ما رأيك في الوساطة قبل الطلاق؟ اكتب لنا بالإنجليزية

Divorce
الطلاق
Mediation
الوساطة
Assessment
تقييم
Mediator
وسيط
Child custody
حضانة الأطفال
Costly
مكلفة

In my opinion, I look that this legal option it's more relevant. The majority of people they don’t have the money for cover the legal’s fees. And some couples thinks that’s the court house its not relevant place for rectify the divorces problems. I’m so sorry my English language it’s very bad but I try to explain my opinion about this theme.

Elbetroji, Morocco

For me, it's good idea because it go participate to decrease the rate of divorce.

Ibrahim, Morocco

In my opinion, mediation is good but also should be done through each side's family in the first place, which may cost nothing.

Hesham Serag, Cairo, Egypt

I think divorce is a part of the human nature. Mediation to me is service that provide service for less money, then other legal providers. It is like counter service. However, depend on couples to choose whether to use the service or not. Mediation might cause problem within couples.

Latifo