Yes — and this is by design and by statutory mandate, not merely an optional courtesy. Section 9 of the Family Courts Act 1984 obliges the Family Court to make a genuine endeavour at reconciliation or settlement before proceeding to a full contested hearing. In practice, the Vadodara Family Court refers matrimonial matters to mediation or its own counselling process at an early stage, before substantive contested hearings begin.

Mediation in Vadodara Family Court matters is conducted through court-annexed mediation services and the settlement mechanism under Section 89 of the Civil Procedure Code. Matters can also be referred to Lok Adalats, which are scheduled at regular intervals for matrimonial disputes in Vadodara's courts and can pass consent awards that are immediately final and not subject to appeal. The most important protection for anyone entering mediation is that sessions are confidential and without prejudice — nothing either party says in the attempt to settle can later be used against them if the mediation fails and the case returns to trial. This allows both sides to speak candidly about what they genuinely need without risk.

Mediation works best when parties go in with realistic, pre-prepared positions and treat the process as a genuine opportunity rather than a formality to discharge. Before entering mediation at the Vadodara Family Court, having your counsel — or a retired judge acting as a neutral adviser — help you formulate what you genuinely need in terms of maintenance, custody, streedhan, and property means you negotiate from a position of informed clarity rather than exhaustion or anger. The retired Principal District and Sessions Judges available through the Vadodara panel of Aapka Legal Advice — including former judges with experience presiding over matrimonial matters — regularly serve as mediators and neutral evaluators in exactly these disputes, bringing experienced neutrality that often produces settlements faster and more durably than adversarial litigation. My consistent advice: treat mediation seriously. A well-negotiated settlement saves years, significant money, and the considerable emotional toll of a full contested trial.