An Important Change About Mediation in the Religious Courts

Nusa Dua | Badilag.net

There is an important change related to the divorce mediation in the religious courts. All this time, the success of mediation is solely measured by reconciliation of the disputed spouses. In the future, mediation will be considered success when they get an agreement about divorce consequences, even they can not be reconciled.

“Firstly, the success of mediation means the spouses do not divorce. But there was a shift in the recent national working meeting. Later Book II will change too.” The secretary of Directorate General of Badilag, Drs. H. Farid Ismail, SH., MH said when opening the family mediation workshop in Nusa Dua, Bali (11/21/2012). The workshop was conducted in cooperation with the Family Court of Australia and facilitated by Australia—Indnesia Partnership for Justice (AIPJ).

. In the National Working Meeting of the Supreme Court 2012 held in Manado, one of the issues discussed by Commission II of the Religious Court was about mediation. In the field of substantive law, the Commission formulated that in the cumulative divorce cases, the mediation is considered success when the parties get an agreement in the derivative cases even they continue divorcing. The same measurement is applied in the counterclaim issues.

The divorce as the main case is sometimes combined by property division and child custody cases. The cases followed the main case is usually called derivative cases.

Such shift will bring a new consequence in the reporting issue. The current reporting model should be overhauled to adapt with the result of National Working Meeting.

In the future, the mediation report will have three possibilities. First, mediation of the main case successes, while the derivative case fails. Second, mediation of the main case fails, while the derivative case successes. And the third, mediation of both main case and derivative case fail.

“Is it possible that the reconciled spouses then make an agreement about property division and child custody? It is impossible. So, when the main case successes, the derivative case should be assumed to fail.” M. Nur, the participant of mediation training from Padang Panjang Religious Court said to badilag.net.

[Mohammad Noor]