Why Mediation?
If your relationship has ended and you need productive and effective discussions about the future family mediation can help a couple, parents or guardians to settle on the best way forward for all concerned.
Whether two parents are facing the end of their relationship and need help to agree access arrangements for their children or two siblings need help in deciding how to divide an inheritance, a mediator can help you call us today.
How mediation works
Taking the initiative to work with a mediator is empowering and allows you to make your own decisions and maintain decision in a timeframe that works for you.
Mediation involves talking through all issues affecting family life.
This can happen before, during or after any family event, such as divorce or separation.
This focus on communication helps everyone come to terms with changing circumstances.
Children, in particular, find this communication helps maintain family relationships.
Mediation is a fraction of the cost and half the time of relying upon Solicitors.
Mediators are trained to help untangle the complex web of issues surrounding any family breakdown, find better ways of communicating and help everyone to focus on finding the best way forward for children and parents.
An impartial individual can often offer the best chance of moving beyond current difficulties to an improved future and find solutions that work.
What issues do we deal with?
Mediation can help all members of a family (not just parents and children) resolve difficulties about property, other possessions, finance, business, debts and parental access rights. Sometimes mediation involves only both partners in a difficult relationship but other times mediation is needed between adult siblings, teenage parents or parents and their adult children or grandparents too.
Early planning for maintenance and child support arrangements following a separation can help avoid later problems, while the involvement of an independent party in discussions about sharing property or other assets and even debts can smooth progress.
Mediation Offers
Mediators provide a neutral and confidential environment for discussions. We are impartial and can help to organize discussions and encourage a focus on important issues for the future, rather than allowing time to be wasted on dwelling on the past.
With mediation, all facts can be brought into the open calmly, allowing you to identify important issues and agree future arrangements.
The role of the mediator is not to make the decisions but offers you a safe environment to discuss options for the future arrangements of your children and finances. This flexible approach allows the best chance of a new start with improved future relationships without the stress and expense of involving lawyers or going to court.
How Does Mediation Work?
Normally the mediator first meets those involved (either individually or together) to explain the process and encourage agreement on arrangements, such as timing and venue. Even when meetings are collective, there should always be an opportunity for any participant to meet the mediator alone to raise issues, such as violence, intimidation or harassment.
The initial meeting also allows the mediator to ask each participant what they hope to achieve through mediation and provides participants to raise any concerns they may have about the process.
Legislation
In England and Wales, changes introduced on April 6th 2011 made it a requirement that anyone applying to a court for a family ruling on matters concerning children or finances (however, there are exceptions for some issues around domestic violence) has to attend a meeting with a mediator known as a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting.
This recognises that the adversarial nature of usual court proceedings are often not best suited to solving family difficulties and that these are usually best resolved through discussion and agreement.
Has the court or your Solicitor advised you to have a MIAM? Call us today to find out more.
Meetings
As mediation is all about communication, meetings would normally include all participants, should they wish to attend, as this is recognized as offering the most effective approach.In the join meetings the mediator will help participants to focus on relevant issues, discuss these and move towards compromise and agreement.
The mediation process usually is around 90 minutes a session but every issue is different and some may see the need to spend more time to settle upon a solution that meets the approval of all.
Total time needed will vary according to individual circumstances and is affected by factors such as the number and complexity of issues to be covered and the interests of any outside party that may need to be included for consideration.
Individual sessions can be expected to last between on and one and a half hours owever, if this is not enough time to air issues, consider their impact on all parties and discuss potential options for future arrangements before reaching agreement, further sessions would be required.However, it should be remembered that mediation is all about those involved; finding the best solution to allow all participants (and any dependents) to move forward to a more stable and settled future relationship.