The Mediate.com Story: 2025 Standards for Family Mediation & Masic S

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Model Standards for Family and Divorce Mediation
(2025 Update)
and Masic-S

The Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) and the ABA Section of Family Law recently shared these newly updated 2025 Model Standards for Family and Divorce Mediation.

After three years of extraordinary collaboration, this significant and timely update by an interdisciplinary Task Force is complete.  These revised Standards address the evolving landscape of family mediation with expanded guidance on:

• Technology and online dispute resolution;
• Termination standard outlining the grounds for ending mediation;
• Domestic abuse and child maltreatment;
• Mediator training and competence
• Inclusion of the child’s voice; and
• Informed decision-making and accessibility.

The primary foci of the new standards is the incorporation of technology and online dispute resolution (ODR) along with screening for domestic abuse and child maltreatment.  Toward these ends, Mediate.com and ODR.com have taken a lead role in programming the “MASIC-S” screening device for family violence. 

This is a good example of how technology can assist court programs and private mediators to address challenging issues of intimate partner violence and child abuse.

MEDIATOR’S ASSESSMENT OF SAFETY ISSUES & CONCERNS-SHORT

For more detailed instructions about each of these notes or instructions, and more detailed information about the MASIC-S (including citations and references to supporting research), review the Comprehensive Guidance for Using the MASIC-S (“Comprehensive Guidance”).

For a short video introduction of the MASIC-S, click here.

The MASIC-S screens for intimate partner violence and abuse (“IPV/A”, also known as domestic violence or “DV”) and related concerns between current or past intimate partners (spouses or significant others). The questions in the MASIC-S primarily address behaviors that are associated with severe or concerning levels of DV. After you complete a MASIC-S screen with each party, you will be prompted to consider:

• Does the party need to be referred to a DV advocate?

• Based on both parties’ reports, is this case appropriate for some form of mediation?

• If this case is appropriate for mediation, are accommodations needed for either party or both parties to help ensure a safe, voluntary, and appropriate mediation process?

• May the parties mediate together in joint session, or
  
• May the parties mediate directly for some or all of the mediation, remotely (online), or

• Should the case be conducted entirely in shuttle format, either in person or remote (online)?

• What additional accommodations are needed for each party to help ensure a safe, voluntary, and appropriate mediation process?

Also see: RSI Publishes Report on Improving Pre-Mediation Screening for Intimate Partner Violence through Proposed Online Tool

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Jim Melamed

Jim Melamed co-founded Mediate.com in 1996 along with John Helie and served as CEO of Mediate.com through June 2020 (25 years).  Jim is currently General Counsel for Mediate.com and ODR.com. During Jim's 25-year tenure, Mediate.com received the American Bar Association's 2010 Institutional Problem Solver Award.  Before Mediate.com, Jim founded The… MORE