With this article Patrick Van Leynseele would like to briefly outline:

1. that the Code creates an overly exaggerated regulation of mediation and is unjustly interfering in various areas with the way in which the mediators should operate;

2. that the Code permits only one (in his opinion far too narrow) form of mediation through a regulation of deontology, in particular, in short, the purely facilitating approach; this while one of the roles of the FBC is to promote all forms of mediation as well as other forms of dispute settlement (art. 1727§ 2, 12 ° Judicial Code);

3. that there are a number of things in the Code that are useless, because they are already written in law and that the FBC wanted to give the Code some form of educational purpose that does not belong in a code of ethics;

4. that a number of aspects of the intervention of mediators could have been given their place in the Code but cannot be found in it;

5. to end with questioning what is ultimately allowed or not allowed.

Charline Ampe explains the workings of a Belgian 2019 statute, that has made insurance premium income tax-deductible as long as the policy provides that mediator fees and other qualified professionals’ fees will be borne wholly by the insurer.

In the Commercial Court of Ghent a 5th chamber has been created in each division, with the view to proposing an alternative dispute resolution method, such as a conciliation in front of and with the assistance of the judge or a referral to an external meditation.
The author points out that files can be directed to this chamber not only at the time of introduction of the court case but also at the time the procedural calendar is set after the respondent has filed the first written submission. Even after the pleadings and after an interlocutory judgment has been rendered, the 5th chamber of the Commercial Court can still refer the matter to an external mediation.
All cases in the field of construction, internal companies disputes and commercial agency can also be automatically referred to this chamber.
The author believes that is it not the task of a judge to act as a mediator because judges are trained to decide themselves about disputes and because they do not have enough time for a mediation. However, the creation of the 5th chamber could give a boost to external mediation knowing that 75% of the attempted mediations end successfully with a settlement.

This article examines the practice of foreclosure mediation in the American mortgage market after the financial crisis of 2008. Many states have implemented foreclosure mediation programs to handle the deluge of foreclosure proceedings in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The role of the mortgage servicing industry in the success or failure of this type of mediation is discussed, as well as the possible outcomes of a foreclosure mediation.

In companies people work together intensively, especially in family run companies. In such a situation, the interests (income, capital and employment) can be enormous when parties fail to live up to each others expectations.How to deal with situations when parties are in a dead-lock and the continuity of the business is at stake? Depending on the legal form of the company and the type of conflict, there are different legal actions to settle a (legal) conflict. However, there are so many rules and different procedures for each type of legal form, that it may dazzle the reader. Moreover, these procedures may take a long time, while the parties in a family dead-lock desire an expert/arbiter/mediator proceeding expeditiously.In a sense a marriage is also a family run company. The following experiences from the area of family law are described: the processes of a divorce, the break-up announcement (the opposite of the marriage proposal), the experiment in court with the so-called regierechter in family cases, the prenuptial agreement and the plan for parenthood after a divorce. Our conclusion is that in case of a dead-lock, parties need to have a good set of rules on the settlement of disputes, to find a qualified expert/arbiter/mediator having knowledge and experience in financial/tax/pension/legal matters and familiar with dealing with emotions in a deadlock.