Family business disputes can be some of the most complex cases to mediate. By their very nature, they involve not just financial matters but also a number of deep emotional issues related to the disputants. They generally have a direct impact on immediate family members who often influence the parties behind the scenes. Mediation is almost always the most compelling dispute resolution mechanism for these types of disputes. Mediators can, and often do, approach these cases differently than other commercial disputes. In this article, I outline some of the particularities of family business disputes and suggest some guidelines that mediators may want to consider when mediating them.

Acknowledge the elephant in the room. Generally, when family disputants approach a commercial mediator, they are focused on the financial matters they want to resolve. Obviously, the mediator's mandate is thus squarely limited by the scope of that dispute. That being said, the financial issues are generally one aspect of a complex set of intertwined financial and emotional relationships, and thus merely the tip of the iceberg.