Family mediation is a way of sorting out financial and children arrangements after separation or divorce without going to court. You make the decisions with the mediator's guidance and help.
Mediation is a really effective and lower-cost choice for many couples. That's why, with some exceptions (for example where it's unsafe because of domestic abuse), before making a court application, you usually need to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) to explore mediation and other out-of-court options. Too often, family lawyers see this as a tick-box exercise. We're different.
Whether we're acting as mediators or supporting you through the process as independent advisers, we believe passionately that mediation can succeed even in cases that are complex or where agreement might initially seem impossible.
Between them, the mediation lawyers in our seven offices across the country have the qualifications and experience to offer the full range of family mediation services including where there are international issues.
The Mills & Reeve family team has unrivalled mediation expertise.
Our team of specialist family lawyers are here to support you if you're considering family mediation. Speak to our team today.
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Mediation is a way of reaching an agreement on the full range of issues that result from a divorce without handing over responsibility to a court. On the financial side, this might be splitting the assets, for example how the house is divided or pension sharing. When it comes to children arrangements it will often be the best approach to agreeing the time they spend with each of you and how you're going to make decisions jointly.
The great advantage of mediation is that you and your ex remain in control of all the discussions and the ability to find answers together to the problems you're facing will stand you in good stead as parents in the years ahead.
Going to mediation isn't compulsory but taking steps to find out about it is required in most cases before making an application to court for a financial order or in respect of the arrangements for your children.
If you're not able to reach agreement in mediation you can ask a court, or in most cases an arbitrator, to make a decision. Your negotiations and proposals in mediation cannot be referred to in subsequent proceedings although any factual information or documents you've provided can be.
Mediation is a voluntary process. It moves at the pace that suits both of you. You discuss everything in meetings together with the mediator and how long it takes will depend on how many issues you're looking to cover, how complex they are and how far apart you are on agreeing them.
“MIAM” stands for mediation information assessment meeting. Contrary to its name, it’s an opportunity for those contemplating court action to learn about all of the non-court dispute resolution approaches, not just mediation, in a bid to avoid expensive and confrontational litigation which does little to support separating families.
If you are thinking about starting court proceedings (or at the receiving end of an application brought by your ex), don’t be scared of attending a MIAM. All non-court dispute resolution approaches are voluntary, so attendance will not mean you will be forced to mediate or prevent you from starting court proceedings at a later date. MIAMs can be arranged quickly and can even be undertaken remotely.
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