Center for Excellence in Family Court Practice

The Model Standards for Family and Divorce Mediation (“Model Standards”) serve as the ethical cornerstone for mediation in family and divorce matters. Over the past twenty-five years, the practice of family and divorce mediation has become increasingly widespread, structured, and embedded within legal and institutional systems. These updated Model Standards aim to promote public confidence in a continually evolving profession while offering clear and consistent guidance to participants, professionals, contracting agencies, and courts.

The guidelines in this area were originally varied and splintered. The Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (“AFCC”) released the 1984 Model Standards of Practice for Family and Divorce as a resource for state and national mediation organizations. AFCC adopted them after convening three national symposia, attended by representatives of more than thirty organizations, between 1982 and 1984, and seeking comment and review from more than 130 individuals and organizations. At the same time, the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association (“ABA”) created its own Standards of Practice for Lawyer Mediators in Family Law Disputes to guide lawyers who wanted to be mediators, defining how they could serve as both while staying within their ethical guidelines and standards of professional responsibility. The two standards were compatible, seemingly because they shared some of the same drafters, and interest in mediation grew after they were released.