Mediation is a voluntary and confidential process, designed to assist you and your former partner in reaching an agreement about your arrangements for your children and any financial matters between you.
The aim is to reach an agreement that you are both satisfied with.
Mediators do not take sides or make judgments; they simply help to facilitate discussion between you.
Mediation can help in the following areas:
- Arrangements in relation to children i.e. where they will live and how much time they will spend with each parent.
- The mediator will be able to assist you both in developing a parenting plan.
- The financial issues arising out of your separation. For example, this can include the family home, pensions and other assets.
- How you and your former partner or spouse will communicate in future.
Children Mediation
We can assist you both in discussing the arrangements in relation to your children. For example, this can include the following:
How much time they will spend with each parent and how this will work
- Where the children will live
- Agreeing parenting in the future
- Education and religion
- Differences in parenting style
- Communication between parents
- Child maintenance
Financial Mediation
The financial impact of your separation will undoubtedly cause you to be anxious. We assist former partners to make a full disclosure of their finances and set this out in a format acceptable to a court.
We will assist in identifying your assets, liabilities, income and expenditure. We will then produce a document known as an Open Financial Statement. This will assist you both in exploring the options which may be available. We will assist you to negotiate and agree proposals for the re-distribution of your finances, including the family home, other properties, mortgages, bank/savings accounts, vehicles, shares, valuable items, businesses, pensions and so on.
We can also assist in the discussion of child maintenance and assist you in reaching an agreement.
What happens once the mediation has concluded?
The proposals you have agreed can be written into a detailed document known as a Memorandum of Understanding. This document will then be used by your solicitor to draft a Consent Order which will be lodged with the court for approval by a judge. Once the Consent Order has been approved by the judge, matters will be finalised and legally binding.