Estate Planning

Mediation Revisited

By Hull & Hull LLP

Mediation continues to be all the rage in Estate litigation in Toronto matters, and is increasingly common outside Toronto as well.  (For background on Mediation in general, see here.)

Mediation no doubt sounds very conciliatory and cooperative, and in an ideal world it might be.  However, estate litigation and the ideal world are not a commonly-encountered pair.  In the real world, mediation can be extremely stressful. It is not uncommon for mediations to drag on into the wee hours as the increasingly tired lawyers and parties draft away at minutes of settlement, always with the possibility that the deal may fall apart at anytime.

Some lawyers have begun to have lengthy pre-mediation meetings with clients to prepare them for mediation ahead of time so they are not taken by surprise by the stress and late nights that may occur. Even more intriguing is the possibility of mediating an estate matter before death - see our own website and a similar website in California.

However, no matter how stressful and difficult a mediation can be, it is still a far cry from the stress and ups and downs of trial – no doubt  a main reason so many mediations result in settlement.

Thanks for reading.

Sean Graham

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on June 18, 2008 (boomark / email).