Guidelines for establishing Child Support and Family Mediation.

Author: María del Castillo Falcón Caro. Legal Director IN DIEM.
Categories: Mediation and Family. Child Support.
Date: March 2014

The General Council of the Judiciary, at the proposal of the Family Judges Working Group, has developed guidelines for determining child support payments.

These tables, adapted to case law and developed on scientific grounds, represent the response to the demands of legal professionals. The Plenary of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) was informed, during its session on July 11, of the Explanatory Memorandum on the guidelines for determining child support in family proceedings.

The author points out that mediation is not a tool created to relieve court congestion; on the contrary, it has its own identity as an alternative way to address conflicts and is a path available to private individuals. It is they who voluntarily decide to resolve their conflict themselves, without granting that power to a third party who only starts from positions, is unfamiliar with the actual circumstances or individual and common interests, and cannot stop to examine and understand them.

Based on this premise, the author reflects on the impact of the proposed guidelines and family mediation processes.