Existing law requires the court, for purposes of deciding custody, to determine the best interests of the child based on certain factors, including the nature and amount of contact with both parents and, consistent with specified findings, requires the court’s primary concern to be the health, safety, and welfare of the child. Existing law requires a court to set the contested issues for mediation when it appears on the face of a petition, application, or other pleading to obtain or modify a temporary or permanent custody or visitation order that custody, visitation, or both are contested. Existing law requires notice of mediation to be given to each party, and where a stepparent or grandparent seeks visitation rights, to the stepparent or grandparent seeking visitation rights, to each parent of the child, and to each parent’s counsel of record. Existing law requires notice to be given by certified mail, return receipt requested, postage prepaid, to the last known address.

This bill would require all parties to be given written notice of mediation, including, among others, by court staff when all parties are present for a court hearing. The bill would require the court to develop a notice of mediation that includes that all communications between the mediator and the disputing parties are required to be confidential and, if there has been a history of domestic violence between the parties or a protective order is in effect, that the mediator is required to meet with the parties separately and at separate times at the request of the party alleging domestic violence, as specified.