The very core of this Master's thesis consists of an overview of the current family mediation regime and an elaborate comparison of its specifics and advantages to regular judicial proceedings in matrimonial disputes. Its main focus lies on the issue, to what extent and how are the best interests of the child protected in family mediation, and in this regard, how does the principle of child’s best interests, as the fundamental and hierarchically highest principle of family mediation, effect other principles important to the mediation proceedings. The Master thesis is divided into five separate chapters. First chapter offers an introductory definition of the basic concepts and terminology, such as mediation, family mediation and the best interests of the child principle. Second chapter offers a complete overview of all the criteria that has to be met in order to consider a family dispute eligible for mediation, and is followed by a third chapter defining and analysing the content of disputes, usually resolved in family mediation. Fourth and fifth chapters are the most important chapters of the thesis, as they focus on basic principles of family mediation and on the position of a child in matrimonial proceedings. In chapter four, a profound description of all the principles that are especially adapted to the specifics of family disputes can be found along with the answer to the question, to what extent do the principles of family mediation differ from the principles of (general) mediation especially regarding the first and foremost important principle of family mediation – the principle of child’s best interests. The fifth chapter considers child’s role and position in family mediations in comparison to its role and position in regular matrimonial court proceedings in particular, from the viewpoint of the child's right to express his or her own view on the matter.
|
