Evaluating the Effectiveness of Court-Annexed Mediation in Divorce Disputes: Evidence from the Temanggung Religious Court, Indonesia

Abstrak

This study investigates the effectiveness of court-annexed mediation in resolving divorce cases at the Class I B Religious Court of Temanggung, Indonesia, during the 2024–2025 period. The study addresses the gap between the normative objectives of Supreme Court Regulation No. 1 of 2016 and the relatively low rate of successful mediation in divorce disputes. An empirical juridical method with a qualitative approach was employed through in-depth interviews with judges, non-judge mediators, and court officials, supported by document analysis and a literature review. The data were analyzed using the Miles, Huberman, and Saldana interactive model and interpreted through Soerjono Soekanto's Legal Effectiveness Theory. The findings indicate that mediation demonstrates an improving level of effectiveness, as reflected in the increase in successful mediation cases from 91 (6.75%) in 2024 to 152 (11.69%) in 2025. Successful mediation is primarily influenced by the persistence of emotional attachment between spouses, mediator competence, humanistic mediation strategies, emotional de-escalation, and professional experience, whereas mediation failure is associated with an irreversible intention to divorce, the absence of children, and the lack of joint marital assets. The study further demonstrates that mediation effectiveness should not be evaluated solely through reconciliation rates but also through its capacity to reduce conflict and facilitate constructive post-divorce relationships. These findings contribute empirical evidence to the evaluation of court-annexed mediation and provide practical implications for strengthening mediator capacity and improving mediation practices within the Indonesian Religious Court system.