Before committing to mediation, many people want to know the consequences that will occur if a mediation agreement is violated. Just what will happen if you don't abide by the agreement or if the other party is not taking the agreement seriously? As any mediation attorney will tell you, this really depends upon whether the mediation was court-ordered and where you are in the process. The mediation agreement may be a part of a court judgment or a court order or it may just be an informal agreement that has no legal bearing.

When mediation is ordered by the court, the agreement that is reached there is often entered into record as an official court order. This means that anything you do to violate the agreement will be a violation of a judge-issued order and you can be fined or jailed as a result. If a mediation is done on your own or it has not yet been adopted by the court, then there are no real legal grounds on which to enforce it. In those cases, it may be wise to seek an additional mediation session to work out the further problems or it may be necessary to take the action to a higher authority. In most cases, this means police or the courts (depending upon the nature of the problem).

If you are in need of dispute resolution, know that a good mediation attorney in your area is a great place to start. You might also familiarize yourself with the process by reading on this site.