Valerie Norton

Speaker – Collaborative Stream

Valerie holds a Clinical Masters in Family Therapy, a Bachelor of Psychology (First Class Honours), a Graduate Diploma in Family Dispute Resolution, and a Bachelor of Sociology.

She is a founder of The Mediation Collective and serves as a Coach and Assessor for National Mediator Accreditation at the College of Law. Valerie is AMDRAS advanced mediator accredited, a Board Member of Collaborative Practice NSW, and an active member of the Resolution Institute, Australian Mediation Association, Institute of Specialist Dispute Management, Australian Association of Collaborative Professionals, Central Sydney Collaborative Forum, and the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals.

Driven by a deep commitment to helping people navigate crisis while preserving familial relationships, Valerie guides individuals and families through complex conversations where timely, thoughtful resolution is essential. She is passionate about resolving conflict in a calm, professional and caring manner, and supports people across the lifespan — from young people to older adults — to find clarity and resolution in challenging times.

Preventing Disputes

Learn how collaborative estate planning can reduce conflict and protect family relationships before disputes escalate.

Practical Tools

Gain hands-on strategies and frameworks for using collaborative processes to resolve estate disputes effectively.

Protecting Legacies

Understand how to secure client wishes while minimising stress, cost, and the emotional toll on families.

War-Torn or Watertight? Playing the Game of Life: How Family-Inclusive Collaborative Estate Planning Prevents Disputes

Estate disputes don’t begin after death – they begin with well-intentioned planning built on assumptions and best guesses about family dynamics.

In this immersive, interactive session, participants step inside a re-imagined Game of Life to explore how everyday estate-planning scenarios can quietly set families on a path toward either harmony or conflict. Guided by an interdisciplinary team – estate planning and disputes lawyers, a financial adviser and a communication coach – you’ll experience how family-inclusive, collaborative planning addresses the legal, financial and human realities that traditional siloed planning often overlooks.

This is not another panel session. It’s a live, participatory experience that reveals how collaboration before death can be the most powerful form of dispute prevention.

Game Over or New Beginnings? Playing the Game of Death workshop: How an Interdisciplinary, No-Litigation Framework Reimagines Estate Dispute Resolution