Parents finding success with expedited mediation Tuesday, June 9, 2020

In recognition of the concerns about parenting time arrangements during the pandemic, the North Dakota Court System launched an expedited parenting time mediation program on April 1, 2020 to assist parties in quickly resolving parenting time issues in an informal and inexpensive manner. The expedited mediation program is free, voluntary, and designed to be completed within seven days from the date mediation was requested. To qualify for the program, a current North Dakota parenting time order, parenting plan or court-ordered visitation schedule must be in place.  

In the first two months that the program has been available, there have been 81 requests for expedited mediation. In 18 cases, the other side declined to participate in the mediation process.  For those individuals who chose to go through the process, the parties were able to reach agreement in 71 percent of the cases. By coming to a voluntary agreement, children are given some certainty about what will happen with them, while the parents are able to save the expense of a court process and to avoid the anxiety of having to wait for a court decision.

If the parenting time or visitation issue cannot be resolved through mediation, parties are still able to file a motion or request an Order to Show Cause and proceed through the normal court process to resolve the issue or enforce compliance with a court order.

The Supreme Court is monitoring the expedited mediation program closely to gauge both the demand for the program and its success rate to determine whether the program should continue once the pandemic is over.

The Court has had a Family Mediation Program since 2008 that provides up to 6 hours of mediation, at no cost to the parties, for resolution of parenting responsibility (custody) and parenting time (visitation) issues. On average 50 percent of cases in the program reach full settlement with another 25 percent reaching a partial settlement.  Throughout the more than 10 years the program has been in effect, the participation satisfaction rate has remained at 86 percent or higher.