Family Dispute Resolution
Timothy is a Ministry of Justice approved/accredited Provider for Family Dispute Resolution (FDR), which means he is able to offer all aspects of the FDR service also known as Family Mediation.
Back in 2014, Timothy set up, at the time, the largest Not for Profit FDR service in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Family Works Resolution Service.
Now, in 2025, for the free, fully funded government model of Family Dispute Resolution with Timothy, please contact Fair Way and ask for Timothy to be your FDR Provider.
Timothy also offers the speediest and quickest FDR Family Mediation service, privately, from his rooms in Auckland or Palmerston North, or Nationwide via Zoom Video conferencing. If you wish to apply for the fastest, privately funded service costing just NZD 2000 plus GST per case, please contact Timothy directly.
What is Family Dispute Resolution (FDR)?
Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) is a Ministry of Justice service designed to support people needing help resolving parenting matters before having to consider going to Court.
FDR involves an independent professional (the FDRP) helping parents identify the matters in dispute, facilitating discussion, and assisting them in reaching an agreement.
FDR is focused on helping separating/separated parents and guardians achieve lasting outcomes, and giving them skills and greater confidence to resolve future problems. FDR also encourages parents to be responsible for reducing the adverse effects of conflict on children.
FDR is mandatory for almost everyone before commencing Care of Children Act 2004 (CoCA) proceedings. In cases where FDR is may be inappropriate (for example, urgent proceedings, some safety risks, or family violence issues), parties may be able to go directly to the Family Court and have an application accepted for a Family Court resolved outcome.
What types of matters go to Family Dispute Resolution (FDR)?
FDR deals with matters where those interested in the safety and wellbeing of any children are trying to agree on parenting or guardianship arrangements. Common areas of dispute include but not limited to:
Day-to-day care and contact arrangements - in the past known as “custody”
Medical stuff, school and extra-curricular activities
School holiday care
Better quality, more respectful communication
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How much does private Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) with Timothy cost?
The cost of FDR is very significantly less than retaining a lawyer and proceeding to a defended court hearing.
If you wish to access FDR privately with Timothy, firstly, it’s quick - and so long as everyone is committed and flexible with dates and times, - you’ll have your first joint 90 minute Family Mediation meeting within 10 days of your dispute being registered and the fee being paid.
The fixed cost for the entire process, which includes private individual Pre Mediation meetings for each party, and up to 4 x 90-minute family mediation meetings, is just NZD $2000 plus GST per case. Timothy is also able to issue your the Section 12 Certificate at the end of the FDR process.
Within Timothy’s private Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) service, Timothy is very well equipped to meet with any children privately, to ensure their thoughts, feelings, wants and needs are accuracy heard, in an age appropriate way, and fed back to the parents at a subsequent joint mediation meeting. The cost of Timothy meeting with any children privately is in addition to the set fee above.
How much does state funded Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) with Timothy cost?
From the 1st July 2025, the Ministry of Justice has made state funded FDR free for all participants, please contact Fair Way for this service.
If Timothy has been appointed as the Voice of Child Expert/Child Consultant/Child Inclusion Specalist (CIS)
If your FDR Mediator is somebody else, it may well be that you have decided for a Voice of Child Consultant to be appointed to meet with any child(ren) in this case and/or for a CIS to be appointed to support the FDR process with what’s called Development Consultation (DC).
If Timothy has been appointed as a Voice of Child Expert/Child Consultant, what will happen is he will reach out to all the parties to introduce himself to each party with a phone or video conversation which typically lasts no more than 30 minutes.
Arrangements will then be made to meet with any child(ren) in the case, and once Timothy has had an opportunity to meet with any child(ren) in the case, he will then participate in a subsequent FDR family mediation meeting.
In this ‘feedback’ meeting, Timothy’s role will be to ensure the thoughts, feelings, wants and needs that any child(ren) in the case want to communicated to the parents and guardians will be communicated, using their words.
It is not the role of the Voice of Child Expert/Child Consultant to provide an assessment or an evaluation of what any child says, nor typically to make any recommendations.
The information the child(ren) provide to the Voice of Child Expert/Child Consultant are covered by the principle of legal privilege, which means that nothing the child(ren) says/say, which is reported back to the parties, is legally admissible into the Family Court should FDR ultimately not succeed.
Sometimes the ages of children might make it inappropriate for them to be consulted directly, in which case it may be that Timothy has been appointed as the Child Inclusion Specialist (CIS) to provide Developmental Consultation (DC), and in this instance, once appointed, Timothy will have a private meeting with each other parties to find out what they would hope from the appointment of a CIS, and then join with the parties and the family mediator for one or more family mediation meetings, being there, as a de facto ‘voice of the child’ being able to provide information on child development, child, psychology, ages and stages and attachment.
If Timothy has been appointed as the Preparation for Mediation (PFM) Coach
If your FDR is with somebody else, it may well be that you have decided for a Preparation for Mediaiton/Coaching meeting, in advance of your first joint meeting with the other party and the FDRP (Family Mediator).
If Timothy has been appointed as a PFM Coach, what will happen is he will reach out to you by text message to introduce himself to you and to schedule your PFM/Coaching session, which is always best done by Zoom/FAceTime or the phone.
When the meeting takes place, it will normally be for no more than 60 minutes, and will be an opportunity for you to develop some skills, so that when you go into your first family mediation meeting, you'll be less likely to be caught up in some of that unhelpful, hurtful past memory, and you will gain strategies to be able to stay focused and articulate clearly what it is you want to discuss in the family mediation process, and how are you can best go about making your case.
You may also benefit from receiving some technical information, or legal information about the relationship between FDR and the Family Court, always being mindful that Timothy will be unable to give you an independant legal advice, but will be able to provide a large about of legal information about the FDR/Family Court process.
Timothy will always remain impartial, and will never work with more than one party to a dispute. The are no discussions between Timothy as the PFM Coach and the FDRP (Family Mediator); Timothy will not share any information disclosed by someone in the PFM/Coaching meeting with anyone else unless there are any care and protection issues disclosed, which might require Timothy to contract statutory authorities.