Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Family Law Procedure
Are parties required to attend mediation in their Florida family law case? Some jurisdictions require that the parties attend mediation prior to a trial date being set in their case. This is so that the parties have an opportunity to resolve their differences rather than having the judge decide what happens. Some parties agree in their settlement contracts that any future disagreements will be submitted to mediation prior to the parties initiating litigation. This was an issue in the case Rudnick v. Harman, 4D20-1004 (Fla. 4th DCA July 22, 2020).
The parties returned to court for post-judgment litigation including a petition for modification filed by the former wife and motions filed by the parties. The parties’ marital settlement agreement included a provision which stated “In the event of any child support modification litigation (or any other type of modification litigation), the parties shall mediate said issues within 90 days of a request by either party prior to filing the supplemental petition.” The former wife admittedly did not comply with this provision when she filed her petition for modification. As a result there was some back-and-forth delay in setting the mediation and the former wife filed a motion to waive the mediation requirement, arguing the former husband was refusing to set mediation and therefore delaying resolution of her petition for modification. At a hearing not attended by the former husband, the court entered an order granting the former wife’s request to waive mediation. The former husband appealed.
The appellate court ruled the former husband was entitled to certiorari relief on the granting of the former wife’s motion to waive mediation. The court held “The trial court departed from the essential requirements of law in granting the motion to waive the presuit mediation requirement without holding an evidentiary hearing on the issue. [internal citation omitted]. The question of waiver depends upon the existence of competent, substantial evidence to support the finding. [internal citation omitted]. While the former wife contends that a hearing is not necessary where the underlying facts are undisputed, on this record the facts are disputed as to whether the former husband waived the right to mediate before litigation commenced. In a proceeding where evidence on this issue may be presented, the court may conclude that the former husband acted inconsistently with his right to demand presuit mediation; on the other hand, the court may view his actions as an attempt to assert his rights under the marital settlement agreement.”
Following proper procedure in your Florida family law case is important to the outcome. Schedule a consultation with a Miami family law attorney to understand how the law may be applied to your case.