When children manipulate situations in separated homes, it’s often a sign.........
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Support Services
Remote support services across all regions in New Zealand.
FDSS – Family Dispute Support services offers a wide range of tailored support services for whānau who are dealing with family separation and parental disputes in and out of the Family Court.
FDSS – Family Dispute Support Services is a not-for-profit community organisation dedicated to supporting separated whānau in resolving their parental disputes. With a holistic, community-led approach, we offer tailored resolution support both in and out of the Family Court.
Our focus is on early prevention and intervention to safeguard the well-being of whānau and children during separation and prevent adversarial separation, if possible. We have successfully assisted hundreds of families across New Zealand in achieving effective and amicable resolutions.
Remote support services across all regions in New Zealand.
“Mediation is the best and most efficient way to resolve parental disputes and most importantly it’s the best for children”. We believe that litigating and involving children in the Family Court proceedings should be a last resort, unless there are some proven safety or violence concerns.
High-conflict litigation can be time-consuming, costly & emotionally draining and often extremely detrimental, not only to the parents, but also to the children involved as well.
The inception of our services is rooted in our firsthand personal experience over a decade. We have witnessed hundreds of families struggling with the detrimental impact of adversarial separation and litigation.
This insight strengthened our commitment to providing compassionate support, community guidance, and tailored solutions for families navigating these challenges. As a not-for-profit community organisation, we focus on promoting open communication between parents to reduce parental conflict and litigation and prioritise the well-being of children in separated families.
FDSS – Family Dispute Support Services was created due to the fact that the Family Court was criticized as being monocultural and not fit for purpose The Family Court proceedings are perceived as daunting, lengthy and expensive for many families. Many parents reported that they are treated unfairly and like criminals in the family court system.
We have personally known many parents who have chosen to end their lives, because they haven’t had any support or guidance through the complex process of separation and dealing with the Family Court. Many have experienced severe mental health strain due to their involvement in the Family Court proceedings and their struggle to access to their children. Many parents we’ve known ended their lives or abandoned their children after despair.
– Coretta Scott King
I cannot express enough gratitude for the incredible support I’ve received from Family Dispute Support Services, particularly from Zayne. This service has been nothing short of life-changing for me and my family.
Facing an impossibly difficult situation in the family court, FDSS provided me with hope, energy, determination, and most importantly, successes I never thought possible. Without their expert guidance, I would still be lost at square one.
Zayne’s strategic advice was nothing short of incredible and his emotional support has been invaluable during this challenging time. The technical support and coaching I received empowered me to stand up against adversity, including a bullying lawyer. Moreover, FDSS helped me navigate obstacles to maintain a meaningful relationship with my child, despite efforts to undermine it from my ex-partner.
I wholeheartedly recommend Family Dispute Support Services to anyone facing similar challenges. Their professionalism, dedication, and genuine care have made an enormous difference in my life.
Five stars without hesitation.
I cannot find words to even try and explain the help I received from FDSS besides excellent. This I can truly, hand on hart, say confidently. Great team that helped me every second of the way. Zayne you a very special person and I am confident that one day your hard work, support and professional approach to assisting people in their times of need will be rewarded one way or another.
I find myself with a tear in my eye because I can honestly say without his support I don’t think I could have got through this family court process.
Zayne was an absolute amazing support to me and kept me calm, guiding me through the family court process. I had a lawyer whom I engaged early on and didn’t end up using, with Zayne’s help it would of been an unnecessary expense. Zayne’s help was better than my ex’s lawyer, who was a top lawyer and who was clearly there for the money, Zayne was there because he genuinely cared
Hi Zayne, hope you have had some moments of peace without the hassle from me now that I have filed my proceedings. Just want to thank you once again for going above and beyond by sharing your insights and knowledge as well as providing continual support. I am constantly touched by your straightforward but compassionate approach as well as impressed by the depth of your knowledge and experience when helping me to navigate the legal system. It has been such a soul searching but empowering experience being a self-litigant and you have become my anchor instilling confidence in me by providing a roadmap. Deep bow to you for the selfless service you have continually provided and I’m one of the lucky receipts.
And how delightful to wake up in the morning reading those concluding paragraphs you have helped me with overnight knowing I ran out of steam out of exhaustion. I was in tears of immense gratitude reading them.
🙏 Thank you legendary Zayne from the bottom of my heart. You rock!!
I am very thankful to Zayne, he has helped me for a while now, wish I knew they existed back in 2020 when my second nightmare in court started. Representing myself without a clue for the past 2 year was extra demoralizing. Thanks to Zayne and David now I feel that even when I’ll be walking right into the valley of the shadow of death, I will come alive at the other side.
Mr Jouma is an amazing person. he helped me in every step navigating the court. i would never go for lawyers again. i spent the last year around 50K NZD in lawyers without any outcome. i started to get outcomes with the help of FDSS.
I co-incidentally, but fortunately found FDSS from Facebook, while doing my own research when I was frustrated with my so called top family lawyer. My only wish is If I could have contacted FDSS before getting in touch with a lawyer then life would have been much much easier and smooth.
But Zayne was more than helpful, always available and has in-depth knowledge of the Family court, way more than lawyers. In the last 1.5 years whatever he told me regarding what to expect from the Judges, Lawyers, LFC etc was true. The best thing about him is he knows how lawyers set things up and he knows well how we can prepare ourselves in advance. After wasting time and resources on 2 lawyers now I am a self represented applicant and 100% much more success than it could have been with any lawyer. I also feel more confident now knowing more about this gender biased system and how to navigate through it. Knowledge is the key for success in Family court and FDSS has this knowledge for sure.
I have had the absolute pleasure of having Zayne’s complete support. His commitment to helping parents navigate the appalling family court system is commendable. I genuinely hope one day that his selfless actions are formally recognised. Thank-you again Zayne for you mental and legal support whilst stuck in a system that offers none of either. In my mind you are a true hero..
I have a legal aid lawyer representing me in the family court but honestly i haven’t contacted my lawyer since i met Zayne. Before meeting Zayne from FDSS, i was always anxious and confused what will happen with my case, my lawyer would take ages to respond without clear information. But since i met with Zayne – he is just amazing and i have gained alot of knowledge from him.
6 month in the family court and paid over 13k legal fees with no outcome. I was fed up ! I approached Zayne from FDSS to help me self-represent in the court. This guy is amazing and his knowledge is priceless ! He knows more than some lawyers ! I regret that I didn’t seek his help from the start. I have now finalised the parenting order dispute in a hassle-free approach as advised by Zayne. Fantastic service
We both agreed last night that it’s such a rare thing to find someone truly invested (without gain) in such an important situation in our life’s and your help is beyond anything we would have imagined. We are a very close family and getting security for our child will make a big difference in his future.
They are excellent at court proceedings. They well understand what is in our mind and how we are emotionally stuck. I highly recommend Zayne for all the parents who stuck with legal proceedings at court
Approximately 1 year ago I came to FDSS seeking guidance on obtaining regular contact with my two children aged 7 and 9 at the time. I knew nothing of the courts system, exhausted my finances through lawyers and was ineligible for any form Legal Aid. During this time I dealt with Zayne and I can hand on heart say I received more guidance in one meeting than over a year of dealing with a Lawyer. Zayne has an unparalleled understanding of the Family legal system. He has a pragmatic approach which is fair and gets results. His suggestions were always child focused and challenged me to rethink any actions I might make that could conflict with this. As a result I had the support I needed to navigate the overwhelming Family court process and achieve an outcome in a shorter amount of time than I could have anticipated – even with COVID delays. I have referred other parents to FDSS and the only shame is there is such a huge need gap to fill and not more of Zayne.
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