Mediation and Other Alternative Methods of Voluntary Settlement of Disputes in the Civil Procedure

Authors:

Pages: 19-28

Abstract:

The new Civil Procedure Code, enacted as of 01.03.2008, explicitly stipulates the regulation of mediation and other alternative methods of voluntary settlement of disputes in the field of civil procedure. For the first time in the procedural legislature of the Republic of Bulgaria, the court is assigned the procedural duty to advise the parties to consider mediation and other alternative methods of settling civil disputes, to explain the advantages of those methods in the general civil claim litigation and in some of the specialized claim actions. The author of the article assumes that the enhanced efficiency of mediation and the other alternative methods results from the more serious involvement and active cooperation of the court. Advising the parties to turn to out-of-court proceedings should become an important and obligatory phase of every civil case, a phase that should take place right after the positions of both parties have been clarified. The amendment of the Mediation Law that sets forth the enforceability of an agreement reached through this alternative method can be considered as an important manifestation of the mediation in civil procedure.

Keywords:

legal and non-legal dispute, advice, mediation, civil procedure, procedural duties, enforceable, mediation settlement.

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