Parenting plans
A written plan for how the two of you will raise the children now that you live apart — schooling, medical care, holidays, and who decides what.
Family mediation
Sort it out without going to court.
I'm Dirk van den Berg. I help separating parents and couples work out the children, the money and the practical arrangements themselves, instead of leaving it to a court to decide.
Book a free 15-minute callRoodepoort and Pretoria, and online anywhere in South Africa
What it is
Mediation, in plain terms
You decide, not a judge
I don't rule on anything and I can't make either of you do anything. The two of you make the decisions, and nothing is settled until you both say it is.
Both of you have to choose it
Mediation is voluntary. Either of you can stop at any point and take the matter the legal route instead. Sitting down with me takes nothing away from you.
It stays between us
Mediation is a confidential process. I explain at the first call exactly what that means, and where its limits are, before you tell me anything.
It is usually quicker than a court fight
Most families work through it in a handful of sessions. A contested matter can run for years, and it costs the two of you the whole way.
What I help with
What families come to me for
Care and contact
The practical arrangements. Where the children sleep, how the week is divided, how holidays work, and how handovers actually happen.
Child maintenance
What each parent contributes and how. School fees, medical cover, clothes, and the extras nobody budgets for.
Division of assets
The house, the vehicles, the policies, the pension, the debt. What is split, how, and by when.
Divorce settlements
Working through the terms between the two of you, so that what eventually reaches a court is an agreement rather than a fight.
When an old arrangement stops working
A plan that suited a six-year-old rarely suits a fourteen-year-old. Arrangements can be reworked here, between the two of you.
Who I am
Thirty years in family law
I practised as an attorney for thirty years, specialising in family law. For most of that time I sat on one side of the table and argued for one person against the other. I saw what that costs a family — not only what it costs to run, but what is left afterwards, when two people still have to raise children together.
I now work as a mediator, in independent practice. I don't take sides and I don't run the case. I sit between you and help the two of you reach something you can both live with.
I work in Afrikaans and in English, whichever you are more comfortable in. I see people in Roodepoort and in Pretoria, and online anywhere in the country. My hours run to seven in the evening on weekdays, because most people can't have this conversation from their desk at eleven in the morning.
- BA LAW, LLB
- 30 years as a practising attorney specialising in family law
- Accredited member of the South African Association of Mediators
- Internationally accredited mediator
- 70-hour Family Law Assist training course
- Numerous Family Assist workshops and advanced courses
How it works
From the first call to a signed agreement
- 01
A free 15-minute call
Online, no cost, and you commit to nothing. You tell me what is going on, I tell you whether mediation is likely to help, and I answer your questions — including what it would cost. If this isn't the right route for you, I'll say so.
- 02
Both of you agree to mediate
Usually one of you contacts me first. I then approach the other, without pressure and without taking sides. Nothing begins until both of you have agreed to it.
- 03
The sessions
Online, or in person in Roodepoort or Pretoria. We take one issue at a time — usually the children first — at a pace the two of you can manage.
- 04
A written agreement
What you agree, I put in writing. You are each free to have your own attorney read it before anyone signs, and from there it can be taken to court to be made an order.
I don't represent either of you
I am not on either side. I am not your attorney and I am not theirs, I don't act for either of you, and I don't give legal advice to either of you. I don't decide who is right. My job is to make sure both of you get to speak, that both of you understand what is being proposed, and that neither of you signs something you don't understand. You are each free to have your own attorney look at anything before you sign, and I'd encourage it. If you ever feel I am leaning one way, say so. And if I can't stay impartial, I'll end the mediation and tell you both why.
Book
Book a free 15-minute call
Online, and there is no cost. Fifteen minutes to tell me what is going on and to ask whatever you need to ask. Booking it commits you to nothing.