Family Mediation Limited
Divorce and Separation Centre
The decision to divorce or separate often leads to disagreements or misunderstandings which must be resolved. This applies whether you are married or living together.
There are practical questions, such as who is to start any legal proceedings and when and how to separate. Arrangements for your children, who are of course vulnerable and caught in the middle, are going to have to be satisfactorily made.
This applies whether you are married (and divorcing) or cohabiting and working out how to ensure good arrangements for your children and how to share any assets held jointly
You can resolve these vital matters in a dignified, non-confrontational way, by confidential discussions with a mediator. The alternative, litigation, involves applying to the Family Court for adjudication.
Litigation involves
considerable costs, often exceeding £10,000 for each person
a lengthy process of months - sometimes more than a year - before conclusion
having to go to Court, in front of a Judge
having the Judge, not you, decide how your parental arrangements, or finances, should be settled.
Mediation has developed as an alternative dispute resolution, involving
a neutral third party - the mediator - encouraging and helping you to work out solutions that make sense to you
saving in time and costs. Mediated cases usually are completed in 3 to 5 meetings in 2 to 4 months and usually cost considerably less than £1,000 (no cost if your means are within the Legal Aid ceiling)
a written memorandum drawn up by the mediator, setting out the joint voluntary decisions.
You may want to make your financial settlement legally binding. Mediated settlements are not legally binding in themselves. However, the decisions that you reach are more likely to last, as they are your own. You wont need actually to go in person to Court, if you can work out a joint set of proposals first. However, you will need to ask the Family Court to examine your proposals and approve them with an Order. Solicitors can help you to do this.
Mediation instead of Litigation
