Family Mediation Agreements About Parenting

Family mediation seeks to arrive at agreements between parents in relation to their children. There are three different types of agreements:

PARENTING AGREEMENT:

• Concerning children's care arrangements, decision-making processes and other specific issues
• Neither signed nor dated by each parent
• Not legally enforceable

PARENTING PLAN:

• Concerning children's care arrangements, decision-making processes and other specific issues
• Signed and dated by each parent
• Not legally enforceable, although somewhat influential to a Family Court judge who is later making Parenting Orders

CONSENT ORDERS:

• Concerning children's care arrangements, decision-making processes and other specific issues
• Must be in a specific format as part of an application to the Family Court
• Stamped by the Family Court and therefore enforceable