Last week Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Larson signed an Order establishing court-sponsored mandatory mediation rules for all family law cases. In 2020 Larson directed each Iowa judicial district to submit a plan for mandatory mediation of family law cases before trial. Her Order just approved and implemented those plans effective March 1st, 2021.
Mediation is the resolution of disputes by agreement facilitated by a neutral third party. It is a proven process of settling disputes that pre-dates formal judicial institutions by thousands of years. As many as 90% or more of cases that mediate settle. It has been used in all types of civil cases in Iowa for years, but only now has it become mandated in family law cases.
Read the analysis in the March 4 Advance.
