The long awaited review of family law has been largely cloaked in secrecy, until last week.

Lord Justice Wall, President of the Family Division gave a speech to the organization Families Need Fathers that sketched the outlines of the coming changes.

It is still not finalised and there are only hints at what changes will be incorporated, it is certain that that long and protracted contact and residence disputes will become a thing of the past. Although how this will be accomplished has not been stated.

An increase in mediation is likely to be encouraged as it’s cheaper and quicker than litigation and eventually all parties agree on the result. In litigation, one party wins and the other loses, guaranteeing that one is unhappy. “Getting to Yes” in mediation tends to make both parties equally happy or unhappy with the result, neither looks resentfully on the other side.

For mediation to be effective all parties’ must have equal rights. If one party knows they can’t win in court and the other knows they can’t lose then, yes, they can probably agree to something in mediation. Lord Justice Wall appears to approve of shared parenting, saying that the critical question is not so much the division of child’s time between their parents, but ensuring the role of each parent in a child’s life is given its proper importance. There will be no more arguments about whether both parties should parent a child, as both will have that entitlement as a starting point. Everything will be approached from a less hostile, more user-friendly and cheaper perspective. The tribunal system proposed sounds like a system that’s friendlier to divorcing parents than the current one, with less need for legal representation. With the main role of the tribunal to assist parties in getting the facts of the case before the court.

Hopefully divorcing parents will start with the presumption that their children need both of them in their lives. The only issue will become what exactly will the arrangement be and that will be decided in mediation if at all possible.

Unfortunately, mediation is not suited to all cases, particularly where domestic abuse is involved, and many will still end up in court.

The optimistic view is that the emphasis of the new laws will be parenting time and responsibility, and real relationships between parents and children.