What is a settlement conference and how is it different from mediation?

A settlement conference is a court process, held before a judge as part of an ongoing family court case, specifically focused on trying to resolve the dispute before it goes to trial; the judge can give a non-binding view of how the issues might be decided, which often helps push both sides toward a realistic settlement. It's a required or expected step in most contested cases under the Family Law Rules, and it takes place within the existing court file and timetable.

Mediation, by contrast, is a private, voluntary process where a neutral mediator, who is not a judge and has no power to decide the case, helps the parties negotiate their own resolution, often outside the court process entirely, though it can happen alongside a court case. Mediation tends to be more flexible in timing and format, and a mediator generally won't offer an opinion on how a court might rule the way a settlement conference judge sometimes will. Both share the same underlying goal, encouraging the parties to resolve their own case, but they operate through very different processes, and many families use both at different points in the same dispute.