The Supreme Court en banc has approved the Rule on Family Mediation to enhance the efficiency of family courts, reduce court backlogs, and promote the best interest of the child.
The Rule was approved by the magistrates in a resolution dated November 5, 2024 but was made public only yesterday.
Under the rule, a mediator acting as an impartial third party, facilitates the resolution of family disputes and helps the parties reach voluntary agreements.
According to the SC resolution, family mediation, a non-adversarial process, should include children and give them a chance to share their thoughts on issues that impact them. The process must focus on what is best for the child and the family, it added.
The Rule is limited to suits between spouses, parents and children, other ascendants and descendants, siblings, relatives within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity (by blood) or affinity (by marriage), and parties in a common-law, dating or sexual relationship, former or present.
The SC said the following cases must be referred to family mediation: those involving issues under the Family Code and other laws which can be the subject of a compromise agreement, such as support, custody, visitation, property relations, and guardianship, settlement of intestate estates (estates without a will), cross-border disputes in international child abduction, support, custody and visitation, guardianship, and other civil cases involving children, filed in the Philippines between a Filipino resident and a citizen of a member-country of the Council of ASEAN Chief Justices.
The Rule also covers other civil cases or the civil aspect of criminal cases where mediation is allowed by law, rules, and international conventions or agreements between parties covered by the Rule.
It added that parties in all these cases, excluding cross-border disputes, must first undergo a dispute resolution process and attempt to reach an amicable settlement before filing any court action.
“If the parties do not reach a settlement and a case is filed, the court, after the pre-trial conference and once the issues have been joined, shall direct the parties to undergo mandatory family mediation as a final attempt to settle the dispute,” the SC resolution added.
To promote effective communication, statements made during family mediation cannot be used as evidence in court unless otherwise agreed upon. Additionally, recording in any form by the family mediator is prohibited.
Support services may be provided to parties or minors while undergoing family mediation, including physical or psychological services and counseling.
The mediation period of 30 days must be strictly observed unless the court approves an extension of not more than 30 days. The parties and their counsel shall personally appear for mediation unless a duly authorized representative appears with a special power of attorney.
“If practicable and upon motion, the court may allow video conference mediation, following the video conferencing guidelines approved by the SC,” the Rule further stated.
However, the Rule also said there are cases not subject to family mediation such as civil cases that cannot be the subject of a compromise, such as the civil status of persons, validity of a marriage or legal separation, grounds for legal separation, future support, a court’s jurisdiction, and future legitime, or the portion of an estate reserved by law for heirs, habeas corpus, unless it relates to custody of minors, violations of the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act, and all cases involving issues under the Family Code with applications for protection/restraining orders or preliminary injunctions.
It also covers other aspects of the family mediation process, such as suspension and termination, withdrawal of the family mediator, effects of refusal to undergo family mediation, and imposition of sanctions.
The Rule took effect 15 calendar days after publication. It was published in a newspaper of general circulation on December 14, 2024.
In 2023, the SC Committee on Family Courts and Juvenile Courts headed by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, created the Sub-Technical Working Group on Rule on Family Mediation to revise the Rule on Court-Annexed Family Mediation and Code of Ethical Standards for Mediators with the subcommittee submitting its first draft to the en banc on January 31 last year.
