Family mediation is used to settle issues of maintenance, communication between parents and children, parental responsibility and property issues between spouses. Family mediation can also be used by family members who, due to the nature of their (family) relationship, find it difficult to resolve civil or commercial disputes, e.g. grandparents in order to communicate with grandchildren. Advantages of the procedure are that it is cheaper than a court dispute, much shorter in time and most importantly that the parents-relatives themselves decide for their own children based on their real needs and not a court