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Family mediation – why should you consider it?

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Astle Paterson’s Family team can assist you with a wide variety of family disputes, including divorce, financial disputes and child arrangement disputes. However, sometimes we would look to refer you to another service to help you resolve your dispute in a less confrontational setting, such as family mediation. There are many reasons why you may want to consider this approach, five of which we detail below.

For a more general guide on divorce proceedings when children are involved, please see our 3-part blog series.

What is family mediation?

Family mediation is a form of dispute resolution in which you attempt to resolve issues and disputes between you and your ex-partner directly, with the help of an independent and professionally trained third party (mediator). It can be used for all manner of family disputes.

Mediation can be a more cost-effective process of resolving disputes by helping parties to come to an amicable and open resolution to the issues at hand, rather than relying on decisions made by the courts following lengthy and expensive legal proceedings. We can assist you here at Astle Paterson with a referral to mediation, if your case is suitable.

Of course, some matters may not be suitable for mediation – however, we will always consider this as a viable option even if only to help narrow the issues in dispute and understand each other’s positions.

Why use family mediation?

Mediation can be a far cheaper method of resolving disputes than issuing court proceedings. Mediation costs average between £300-£1,500+VAT per party, depending on the number of appointments required. In contrast, legal costs of contested court proceedings can often exceed £10,000+VAT per party, depending on the complexity of the matter.
Mediation can result in a far quicker outcome than going through legal proceedings. On average, mediation takes approximately 1-3 months for an agreement being reached – compared to an average of 6-12 months when going through the Courts.
Mediation is seen to be a more open and less stressful process, without the need for attendance to the formal courts. It also means that parties are able to discuss, compromise and keep the ultimate final decision in their own hands, rather than being at the mercy of the Court to make such decisions (which can result in neither party being happy).
Decisions and arrangements made in mediation can be ratified and made legally binding on parties through the courts, should parties wish to do so. It can be a far cheaper option to make all of the decisions between parties and to then simply have the court ‘sign off’ on the agreement reached, rather than asking the court to make decisions based on the evidence of parties.
Parties will always have the option to litigate if mediation is not successful. By entering into the mediation process, it does not curtail a party’s option to take legal proceedings in the future. However, it may help to reduce the number of issues in dispute and allow for partial agreement.

If you decide to mediate, and successfully reach a full agreement, our family team at Astle Paterson would then receive a Statement of Outcome from the mediator. This can then be used by us to draft any appropriate legally binding financial remedy order, separation agreement or other order.

Is family mediation compulsory in the UK?

Family mediation in England and Wales is not mandatory and therefore it is not a requirement to attend – although it is heavily promoted, and the judiciary look very favourably on parties who have explored mediation as a viable option for dispute resolution.

However, as discussed in our three-part series on the subject, to issue any application for a Child Arrangement Order or a Financial Remedy Order, you will be required to at the very least to have attended a Mediation Initial Assessment Meeting (MIAM). The MIAM is a short meeting between you and the mediator to assess the suitability of the case for mediation. If you do not wish to mediate the case, a certificate will be provided to you by the mediator which confirms your attendance at this very short initial meeting. This MIAM Certificate has to be produced to the Court for a Judge to allow any application to progress.

Exemptions to attending MIAM

As mentioned above, mediation may not be suitable in every case – and certain cases would most certainly not be suitable for either full mediation, or indeed the requirement to attend a MIAM.

The exemptions for the requirement to attend a MIAM tend to be cases of extreme urgency, cases of domestic violence where one party feels coerced or threatened, or cases where an opponent’s whereabouts are unknown. Our Family Team here at Astle Paterson would advise and guide you as to the suitability for mediation and/or any likely exemption that could apply to your case.

Contact the experts

If you are separating from a spouse or struggling with child arrangements and wish to speak with someone about your options, including mediation, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our Divorce & Family team. Call us now to instruct one of our experienced and specialist lawyers to represent you, advise, guide and support you.