What is Family Mediation?
Family mediation is a way of helping people to reach agreements when relationships breakdown.
Our Family Mediators will help you to communicate when the situation is tense and difficult in order to clarify things where there is uncertainty and reach agreements avoiding lengthy and costly legal action. As mediators we can support families through conflict and change. A Family Mediator’s role is to help you to improve communication, reduce conflict and enable you to agree on practical, workable arrangements for the future. Family mediators are specially trained to focus on the needs of the children in the family and will help parents do that together. We can also help people to decide what to do about the house, other assets and debts.
Mediation can help everyone in the family, such as grandparents and other extended family members to establish new working relationships.
What is the process?
The first step in the mediation process is to attend a Mediation Information Assessment Meeting (MIAM) This is with a qualified Family mediator who will explain to you the alternatives to the court process.
You will discuss your personal situation on a confidential, one to one basis. We will provide information about options available to you to resolve the issues and will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each option. We will also ask questions and make an assessment to help you to decide whether or not mediation is a suitable way forward for you in your own particular circumstances.
Most divorcing and separating couples who want to use the court process to resolve issues about children or money, have to show that they have attended a MIAM before they can apply for a court order. At the end of the MIAM assessment, if mediation is suitable and both of you want to mediate then we will set up a Joint Mediation session.
Mediators are an impartial third party who will manage the process on your behalf.
We help you to identify the issues and exchange information, ideas and feelings constructively.
A Family Mediator will help you to explore the options available to you and to make workable arrangements for the future. Throughout the process, we will give you the necessary legal and financial information to ensure you reach informed decisions. We will record key pieces of information, ideas or particular options and if you are able to identify some proposals that you think might work, we will record those proposals.
Family Mediation:
- Enables you to have a say in how things are resolved.
- It’s less stressful and reduces conflict.
- The agreements you make can be revised if your circumstances change.
- It can be less challenging for any children involved – and helps them continue important family relationships.
- It is quicker and less costly than long drawn-out legal conflict.
