Looking Back at 2024: Changing Trends in Mediation Clientele

Each year at the Centre for Mediation and Dispute Resolution we look back at our client population seeking to uncover patterns, changes, and even trends. In 2023, as in 2022, video conferencing continued to appeal to clients, even as in-person mediation gained in popularity.

Remote sessions presented some advantages that could not be ignored. Scheduling sessions became easier, with clients electing times that could be squeezed in between working requirements, children’s school hours, and personal commitments, all without the additional time and cost of travel. Others preferred not having to sit in the same room with those participating in the process. And, then, too, some clients chose a hybrid approach: in-person for some sessions and remote for others.

Clearly, remote mediation is here to stay; it presents an alternative to the traditional in-person format, an opportunity to mediate despite restrictions imposed by time and distance. The mediation horizon has undoubtedly expanded: an increased number of individuals have become knowledgeable about the process, a process facilitated by convenient and varied modes of accessibility.

In 2024 we observed the following trends:

From Our Separating, Divorcing, and Divorced Clients:

• An increased number of couples in their sixties, seventies, and eighties deciding to divorce while others in the same age group, after considering the advantages and disadvantages of divorce, deciding to structure a separation agreement rather than to divorce;
• An increased number of couples returning to mediation to update their mediated divorce agreements having not filed their agreements for years after it was drafted;
• An increased number of couples electing to retain marital homes as joint property in order to avoid refinancing the property at higher interest rates;
• An increased number of couples who learned, after speaking to lenders, that their mortgages were assumable, at the current interest rate, upon divorce provided the party met credit qualifications;
• An increased number of unmarried, separating couples entering mediation to reach agreement on child support and custody terms;
• An increased number of couples in polyamorous relationships entering mediation to structure financial and personal terms;
• An increased number of couples mediating prenuptials and postnuptial agreements;
• An increased number of couples electing marital mediation as a process for saving their marriage; and
• An increased number of couples entering mediating to devise a plan for retirement.

In considering changes in client behavior and attitudes, perhaps the political unrest and economic uncertainties of 2024 provided the impetus for creative problem-solving. Or, perhaps, the problem-solving focus of mediation, helped couples to be more adventurous in devising novel approaches to their living arrangements, both for the present and for the future.

From Our Business Clients:

• An increased number of business partners trying to navigate retirement exits without benefit of a contractual agreement;
• An increased number of businesses in which a parent and adult child are working to plan the exit of the parent with the succession of the child, at times involving provisions for children not working in the business;
• An increased number of business partners who are struggling with defining each party’s role in the operation and management of the business, including considerations of compensation;
• An increased number of divorcing couples who are also trying to navigate each one’s role in the business after divorce; and
• An increase in family-owned businesses trying to separate familial and business conflicts.

Interestingly, 2024 witnessed a dramatic increase in conflicts between familial and business interests and considerations. Clearly such dilemmas were always present, but, at least in our clientele, they were now being raised as primary problems, not noise in the background. Once again the problem-solving nature of mediation and its confidential format provide a forum for dissecting and addressing sensitive issues in privacy and with respect.

From Our Family Mediation Clients:

• An increased number of family mediations focusing on estrangements of parents and adult children;
• An increased number of adult siblings struggling to care for aging parents;
• An increased number of estate issues in which one child requires more resources than the others;
• An increased number of disputes over sibling differences in the management and care of inherited vacation homes; and
• An increased number of disputes pertaining to the distribution of family assets.

Family tensions are not new. Unresolved childhood conflicts continue to simmer below the surface, at times boiling over, when an aging parent needs assistance or dies or an estate plan raises real or perceived questions of fairness. The reasons underlying dissension among family members are almost limitless. Mediation provides a means to communicate feelings in a safe and confidential environment. The mediator’s role is to help family members appreciate the value of familial relationships at the same time that a solution is sought that is fair and workable for all participants.

Whether in-person or remote, mediation with a skilled and knowledgeable facilitator offers all participants the opportunity to express their needs, concerns, and priorities in a safe and confidential environment. Collaboration is the hallmark of mediation; a process built on each party’s openness to listening to each other and to working together to resolve old issues and prevent new ones from developing.