Marriage counsellors are seeking to have guidelines issued for lawyers acting as divorce mediators to avoid a confusion of roles.
A three-year pilot scheme will be launched by the Judiciary this month to enable couples seeking a divorce to go through mediation rather than litigation.
Mediators will help couples settle issues such as child custody, visiting hours and the division of properties and assets.
They will be able to draft legal documents recognised by the courts.
The aim is to save divorcing couples from the huge fees and painful experience of resolving touchy matters through the rigid legal process.
But voluntary group the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council, which has been offering the service since 1988, is concerned that lawyers who became qualified as mediators would confuse their roles.