Divorce mediation before the Rabbinical Court is meant to help spouses who wish to divorce negotiate their way to a divorce agreement acceptable to both sides.
What is divorce mediation?
As a rule, when a couple is about to divorce, they can draw up a divorce agreement between themselves, outside of court, and submit it for approval, so it receives the force of a judgment, before the Rabbinical Court or the Family Court.
The divorce agreement can settle all divorce matters: both the divorce itself and the granting of the get, which fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Rabbinical Court, and the matters bound up with the divorce, such as division of joint property, alimony payments to the wife and child support for the children, and custody and parenting time arrangements, which fall under the concurrent jurisdiction of the Rabbinical Court and the Family Court. After the divorce agreement is approved, the couple must also open a case at the Rabbinical Court, for the divorce ceremony and the arrangement of the get.
In the absence of a divorce agreement, either spouse may file a divorce claim before the Rabbinical Court or the Family Court. In that case, however, the spouses are first required to go through a mediation procedure through the assistance units, aimed at reaching a divorce agreement acceptable to both sides, under the Law for the Settlement of Litigation in Family Disputes, 2014, which came into effect in July 2016.
As long as the mediation process is under way, a stay of proceedings applies, preventing the parties from going to court, except in certain urgent matters. These include, among others, a request to approve an urgent medical procedure for a minor child when the parents do not agree about it, a request for a temporary attachment order or a temporary order barring departure from the country, to preserve the existing situation, and more.
A divorce claim therefore cannot be filed before mediation has been attempted. Only if the mediation fails, and the spouses cannot reach a divorce agreement, may they file a divorce claim.
How do you start mediation at the Rabbinical Court?
To begin the process, one of the spouses submits a request form for dispute resolution to the assistance unit at the Rabbinical Court in their area of residence. This is a fairly technical form that contains no claims or facts about the dispute between the parties.
The filing spouse must also pay a fee (103 NIS, as of 2022). Beyond this fee, the mediation process involves no further charges.
After the request form is submitted, the assistance unit secretariat schedules four Mahut sessions for the couple (the Hebrew acronym for “information, acquaintance, and coordination”) as part of the mediation process. All the sessions must take place within 45 days of the date the request is filed, though this period can be extended by 15 days.
How is mediation conducted at the Rabbinical Court?
In the mediation process, the assistance unit’s staff, which includes attorneys, psychologists, and social workers, mediate between the spouses to help them reach a divorce agreement both can accept, sparing them the need to file a claim.
The assistance unit staff may meet for this purpose with each spouse separately, or with both together. They may also invite to the process any other person who can help resolve the conflict between the spouses, subject to the spouses’ consent.
A summons to the first Mahut session has the same force as a court summons: the couple must appear, and it is not theirs to choose. A spouse who has no interest in mediation must nonetheless attend the first session and sign a form declining the mediation process.
The spouses may be represented by an attorney at the mediation sessions, except for the first session, which is held with the couple and the assistance unit staff only. In addition, the spouses are entitled to consult an attorney before taking on any legal obligation within the mediation.
The mediation process consists, as noted, of 4 sessions, covering the following:
- Information: presenting the couple with the various legal avenues for resolving a family conflict and their implications, legal, emotional, social, and economic, as well as the ways of resolving the conflict by agreement and coping with its consequences, including counseling, mediation, family or couples therapy, and collaborative divorce.
- Acquaintance: meeting with the couple to assess, together with them, their needs and their children’s needs, and to help them choose the route that suits them for resolving the conflict by agreement.
- Coordination: setting an appropriate plan for the continuation of the process.
How does mediation at the Rabbinical Court end?
If the couple managed to reach a divorce agreement during the mediation conducted within the assistance unit at the Rabbinical Court, they submit the agreement to the Rabbinical Court for approval and for the force of a judgment.
If the spouses could not reach a divorce agreement in that process, they must inform the assistance unit whether or not they want an alternative mediation process for resolving their dispute.
If the spouses announce that they want an alternative mediation process, they must also agree between themselves on extending the stay of proceedings, and approach a private mediator to conduct the alternative process, of their own choosing or on the assistance unit’s recommendation. The private mediator’s fee is paid by the spouses, although those entitled to state legal aid may also be entitled to help with this fee.
If the spouses announce that they do not want an alternative mediation process, the spouse who submitted the request for dispute resolution may file a claim with the Rabbinical Court or the Family Court within 15 days of the end of the stay of proceedings. If that spouse does not file the claim, the other spouse becomes entitled to file it.
