Mediation Act 2017
Interpretation | ||
2. (1) In this Act— | ||
“agreement to mediate” has the meaning assigned to it by section 7 ; | ||
“Council” has the meaning assigned to it by section 12 (1); | ||
“dispute” includes a complaint; | ||
“family law proceedings” means proceedings before a court of competent jurisdiction under any of the following enactments: | ||
(a) section 8 of the Enforcement of Court Orders Act 1940 in so far as that section relates to the enforcement of maintenance orders; | ||
(b) the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 ; | ||
(c) the Family Home Protection Act 1976 ; | ||
(d) the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act 1976 ; | ||
(e) the Family Law Act 1981 ; | ||
(f) the Status of Children Act 1987 ; | ||
(g) the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989 ; | ||
(h) the Child Abduction and Enforcement of Custody Orders Act 1991 ; | ||
(i) the Maintenance Act 1994 ; | ||
(j) the Family Law Act 1995 ; | ||
(k) the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 ; | ||
(l) the Protection of Children (Hague Convention) Act 2000 ; | ||
(m) the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 ; | ||
(o) subject to subsection (2), any other enactment which may be prescribed for the purposes of this definition; | ||
“mediation” means a confidential, facilitative and voluntary process in which parties to a dispute, with the assistance of a mediator, attempt to reach a mutually acceptable agreement to resolve the dispute; | ||
“mediation information session” has the meaning assigned to it by section 23 (1); | ||
“mediation settlement” means an agreement in writing reached by the parties to a dispute during the course of a mediation and signed by the parties and the mediator; | ||
“mediator” means a person appointed under an agreement to mediate to assist the parties to the agreement to reach a mutually acceptable agreement to resolve the dispute the subject of the agreement; | ||
“Minister” means Minister for Justice and Equality; | ||
“party” means a party to a mediation; | ||
“practising barrister” has the same meaning as it has in section 2 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 ; | ||
“practising solicitor” has the same meaning as it has in section 2 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 ; | ||
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made under section 4 ; | ||
“proceedings” means civil proceedings that may be instituted before a court. | ||
(2) In prescribing an enactment for the purposes of the definition of “family law proceedings”, the Minister shall have regard to— | ||
(a) the desirability of resolving, in so far as is practicable, disputes, within a family, that the enactment relates to in a manner that is non-adversarial, and | ||
(b) the need for the expeditious resolution of such disputes in a manner that minimises the costs of resolving those disputes for the parties concerned. |