Meet
Belinda Crawford.

Accredited Family Law Specialist, Mediator, Arbitrator, FDRP, Parenting Coordinator & Collaborative Coach

Belinda has worked in the family law space since 2001 and is an Accredited Specialist in Family Law through the Law Society of NSW.  She is an accredited mediator, arbitrator, family dispute resolution practitioner, parenting coordinator and collaborative coach. She has been included in the NSW Doyle’s list of leading Family Law mediators since 2023 and now sits as Preeminent Family Law Mediator as voted by her family law colleagues.

Prior to establishing Separation Solutions in 2021 (formerly known as Crawford Mediation & Arbitration), Belinda worked for 15 years across the Sydney and Parramatta Registries of the Federal Circuit & Family Court of Australia as a Judicial Registrar and Senior Judicial Registrar. She conducted hundreds of Case Assessment Conferences and Conciliation Conferences whilst working at the courts and regularly sat in court to deal with the procedural issues related to such cases. From 2020 she was determining cases when sitting as a Senior Judicial Registrar at the Courts. That included sitting in the Evatt list which involved parenting cases with the highest of risk factors. She therefore has considerable training in domestic and family violence and trauma informed practice.

In the early stages of her career, Belinda worked as a family lawyer at reputable law firms in Sydney and Parramatta. She has always been passionate about assisting parties to reach an agreement about their family law issues, hence her shift to dispute resolution services. Combined with her court experience, Belinda has a broad cross-section of experience and exposure to many different financial and parenting cases, including financial cases with multi-million-dollar asset pools and parenting cases with complex facts.

Belinda always demonstrates a high level of professionalism and fairness throughout the mediation process in family law matters. She conducts all mediations with integrity, neutrality, and respect for all parties involved, ensuring that each person is given an equal opportunity to be heard. Belinda always shows a clear understanding of the issues and manages discussions calmly and effectively, even when matters are sensitive or challenging. Her balanced approach helps maintain a constructive and respectful environment.  Belinda acts truly impartial, is well-prepared time after time, and remains focused on facilitating a fair and professional process for all parties involved. I will recommend her as a mediator in any family law matter.

Clarise Jeanes, Hills Family Law Centre

Excellently conducted by Belinda, keeping some pace towards an outcome, in difficult circumstances.

Les Stubbs, Harris Freidman Lawyers
A tricky matter for many reasons. The matter did not settle but the mediation went better than expected given the non legal emotional issues in the matter. As always, Belinda was a pleasure to have as our mediator.
Fiona Hoad, Bartier Perry Lawyers

I found the entire process from the time of the initial booking enquiry very quick and easy. Belinda conducted the mediation in a professional setting and the experience for the parties was one that gave them the opportunity to play an active part in the mediation whilst also benefiting from an evaluative approach using Belinda’s wealth of experience as a family lawyer and former Registrar of the Family Court

Adam West, Coleman Greig Lawyers

Even though we were not able to reach a final resolution in a very difficult matter, the mediator was wonderfully impartial but empathetic and able to reality test parties options but also assist in generating possible solutions. I am very happy with the process from the first booking to finalisation. I would highly recommend Belinda

Anonymous, Coastal Lawyers

Hugely grateful to Belinda for assisting us to settle this matter where there has been a significant amount of conflict between the parties. I did not conceive prior to the day of the Mediation that such a result would be achieved and thrilled that Final Orders have now been made by the Court in time for the holidays. A great result for both parties who can now move on with their lives.

Camilla Brown, Lander & Rogers

Excellent organisation, efficient, communicative, friendly and appropriate, in short 10/10 and we will be using Separation Solutions and Belinda Crawford as mediator again for future lawyer-led mediations.

Bart Janowski, Jano Family Law

The practical approach to assisting the parties reach an agreement was outstanding. Belinda was able to keep the parties on track to focus on reaching a mutually acceptable resolution rather than on who’s version of events was accurate, in circumstances where there were significant differences of perspectives as to the value of the asset pool.

The tool utilised at the start of the mediation to provide the parties with perspectives and visual representations of their costs to date and future costs as a percentage of their property pool was innovative and impactful. Loved it.

Geovanna Jammo, Evolve Family Lawyers

Belinda was exceptional. Belinda’s ability to connect with the client and to guide the mediation process was fantastic. Belinda’s experience as a former Senior Judicial Registrar was evident and helpful for the purpose of mediation. 10/10.

Ariza Arif, Doumit Family Lawyers

Belinda is a clear communicator and keeps the parties (and their lawyers!) focused on the purpose of mediation – achieving outcomes for the parties.

Kay Huntsman, Uther Webster & Evans Pty Ltd

Great job! Thank you for assisting these parties come to an effective and pragmatic solution. Client is very grateful matter has come to an end after 12 months of litigation.

Fidan Shevket, Fox & Staniland

Belinda is always respectful of clients and helpful, they feel listened to and that their concerns are acknowledged. At the same time Belinda gives gentle and firm, but not pushy, advice as to ranges of outcomes and reality testing clients as to their positions. In this matter, my client was not going to budge below a certain position which was not a particularly reasonable one. As a practitioner I do not like placing pressure on clients to settle or move from a position they hold, provided that they have had advice and are aware of an offer being in the range or their position being too high etc. Ultimately it is a matter for the client to decide what they are willing to settle on, and that position may not always correspond with the advice they have received.  I don’t like clients coming away from mediation feeling like they are being forced into a position or feeling like the mediator has placed a lot of pressure on a client , and I don’t feel that with Belinda.

Anonymous, Sydney Based Lawyer
Belinda’s experience and knowledge is invaluable in guiding Parties to reach an agreement. Belinda has a caring approach but also provides a realistic perspective which assists throughout any mediation. I thoroughly recommend Belinda.
Tash Scarf, Scarf Family Law

I found the booking process to be easy to use and navigate, communication and updates were fantastic. The pre-conference was useful and assisted my client to prepare for the mediation process itself and I observed her to be much calmer on the day of the mediation because of it.  Overall my client was happy with the process, although disappointed we were not able to resolve the matter but I appreciated that you came up with the suggestion to attend a further session once disclosure issues were resolved so that hopefully the party’s may be able to resolve their property settlement without the need for a Trial. I particularly liked that you took the time to reality test my client and how you approached sensitive but important issues with her.

Nicole Smith, Lamrocks Solicitors

As always, Belinda conducted the mediation very skilfully. She reality-tested the parties’ positions whilst maintaining empathy for their individual personal circumstances and assisted enormously in bringing them closer to agreement. Whilst we did not ultimately settle on the day, the process provided very useful feedback for our client and has likely improved the prospects of success for the parties reaching a settlement in the near future.

Claire Nielsen, Shipton & Associates

I found the team very helpful and accommodating when trying to make tentative arrangements for a date pending completion of a valuation.

Belinda is a brilliant mediator, intelligent & able to bring disputing parties to make commercial decisions in a short space of time.

Highly recommend the services offered from Separation Solutions.

Halla Hassan, Mills Oakley

Booking with separation solutions is so easy, and Belinda is a fantastic mediator! I have engaged Belinda in a range of matters, and she has always made the client feel comfortable and paced the mediation perfectly. Belinda’s experience from working at Court is invaluable in family law mediations.

Jane Bonthorne, Matthews Dooley & Gibson
Belinda’s professionalism and experience was evident from our very first communications and continued throughout a difficult mediation. I would not hesitate to recommend her to my colleagues, and I hope to have her assist in future mediations.

High praise indeed from a Queenslander.

Chris Rowe, Baker O'Brien Toll Lawyers