QUESTIONNAIRE FOR VOLUNTEER SETTLEMENT MASTER
1.
2.
3.
4.
I was appointed by the Family Court as the Volunteer Settlement Master (VSM) in
case number and name:
on [date of appointment] .
On
[date]
, I faxed my “Report from Volunteer Settlement
Master” to the Family Court, and as a consequence, I was then discharged as the
VSM in this case.
The extent of my volunteer service as a VSM can be described as follows:
[ ]
a. I volunteered less than 3.5 hours of my time.
[ ]
b. I volunteered just about 3.5 hours of my time.
[ ]
c. I volunteered more than 3.5 hours of my time. I would estimate that I
volunteered
[hours]
of hours as a VSM in this case.
As a consequence of the VSM process:
[ ]
a.
The parties reached an agreement on all issues.
[ ]
b. The parties reached an agreement (or confirmed their prior agreement) on
the following issues:
[ ]
Jurisdiction of the Family Court
[ ]
Granting of the divorce
[ ]
Legal custody
[ ]
Physical custody
[ ]
Child support
[ ]
Child related expenses (e.g., expenses for child care, preschool, private
school, summer school, post high school, and extracurricular activities)
[ ]
Child healthcare (e.g., maintenance of insurance, payment of excess
expenses)
[ ]
Alimony
[ ]
Security for support
[ ]
Property Division - credit union/bank accounts
[ ]
Property Division - securities
[ ]
Property Division - vehicles
[ ]
Property Division - real property
[ ]
Property Division - life insurance
[ ]
Property Division - retirement
[ ]
Property Division - business assets
[ ]
Property Division - investment assets
[ ]
Property Division - household effects
[ ]
Property Division - personal effects
[ ]
Property Division - trust property
[ ]
Property Division - other property
[ ]
Debt
[
[
]
Tax matters (e.g., liability, refunds, deductions)
]
Payment of fees (e.g., attorney fees and costs, expert fees and costs,
mediation/arbitration fees and costs, custody evaluator/custody
guardian ad litem fees and costs)
RG-AC-508 (8/19)
AD-P-860
CLEAR FORM
5. While the parties did not reach agreement on all issues, in the course of the VSM
process (check all that apply):
[ ]
Helpful information was exchanged.
[ ]
Helpful options were explored.
[ ]
Each party was able to better understand their own interests.
[ ]
Each party was able to better understand the interests of the other party.
[ ]
Involved counsel helped reduce the level of conflict.
[ ]
The parties became less positional and more conciliatory.
6. The inability of the parties to reach an agreement on all issues was the result of:
(check all that apply):
[ ]
A VSM should never have been assigned to this case since it was unrealistic
to assume that the case could settle with no more than 3.5 hours involvement
on the part of the VSM.
[ ]
Lack of preparation on the part of one or both parties.
[ ]
Lack of preparation on the part of one or both attorneys.
[ ]
Fundamental misconceptions about the law of divorce on the part of one or
more participants.
[ ]
Fundamental misconceptions about the legal process of divorce on the part of
one or more participants.
[ ]
Fundamental unwillingness on the part of one or more participants to reasonbly
compromise.
7. My suggestions for improving the VSM process would include:
8. Other comments:
Date Signature of VSM
Print Name:
Upon completion of this questionnaire, the VSM shall fax it to the Mediation Center
of the Pacific at (808) 538-1454 or e-mail it to mcp@mediatehawaii.org.