MIAM Mediation Assessment Meeting

Usually, one of the participants contacts a mediation service provider to discuss the feasibility of mediation for their dispute. 

During the MIAM assessment meeting, the mediator will as lots of questions about your circumstances. The mediator will also give information about the costs involved, the benefits of mediation along with other services available and will signpost to other professionals such as divorce coaches or financial planners who might be helpful in your circumstances.

The mediator will make an assessment with you as to whether mediation is appropriate. Following this meeting, the other participant(s) may be invited to attend one of these initial meetings. The other participant will generally be invited to attend a MIAM assessment meeting, also to assess for willingness and suitability for mediation, to provide information and to explore what that person might want to discuss in mediation.

If you need the mediator to sign a court form, the mediator can do this after a MIAM mediation assessment meeting.

Mediation to Discuss Financial Agreements

For Married Couples

Our financial mediation process follows the same format as the Form E Financial disclosure within the court.  The only difference is it tends to be considerably quicker and cheaper than court.  If an agreement can't be made in mediation clients often find they still save in terms of cost and time purely by documenting everything through mediation. 

Making full and frank financial disclosure means disclosing and then gathering evidence to exchange with one another of all of the different assets and liabilities that have accrued during, and often also before the marriage. We then move forward by focusing on what is required by both parties in the future to meet their reasonable housing needs.

 This information is used to draft the Open Financial Statement which is the draft working document used in the financial negotiations.  This is an easy-to-follow visual plan of everything that you jointly or individually own and owe.

 If agreement is reached, then the Memorandum of Understanding is drawn up which details what has been agreed and clearly shows how finances will be divided following separation.

For Non-Married Couples

The process for married and non-married couples is the same, however non-married couples are only obliged to disclose jointly owned assets.

 Non-married couples may wish to discuss other assets for example income when deciding on a child maintenance figure, however this is done voluntarily within the process of mediation in order to reach an ongoing financial agreement that works for both parents, but particularly for any children involved. 

 Wiki Divorce Calculator

This can be a helpful initial indicator of your circumstances:

https://divorce.wikivorce.com/divorce-calculator/divorce-calculator.html

We recommend taking legal advice whenever possible, including by taking up to half an hour of free legal advice from one of the free legal advice clinics listed on the www.lawworks.org.uk website.

Child Arrangements Mediation

Research shows that children can cope with separation providing their parents are able to cope. What can be damaging to children is the conflict between the adults, particularly when it is ‘chronic’ (long-lasting) or entrenched. Our professional family mediation service help parents to focus on the children and how conflict can feel for them while also looking for sustainable and workable agreements.

Many separated parents find it a challenge to organise the time that each child spends with their parent. The most common problem is not being able to talk with each other effectively. After a relationship has come to an end, talking to your ex-partner can be very difficult and emotions can run high. This can make having an everyday conversation about child arrangements very difficult. In mediation, your family mediator will discuss with you both about communication strategies and possible guidelines and boundaries.

Mediators may also encourage participants to talk about clarifying new partners’ roles and how and when they should be introduced to the family.

Mediators will document the agreements reached in mediation. They might also discuss with you whether you feel you would benefit from the drafting of a parenting plan. A Parenting Plan documents agreements such as term time arrangements, holidays, birthdays and other significant days. It can also document agreed guidelines and boundaries across both homes. A helpful document to begin to consider drafting a Parenting Plan is the Cafcass Parenting Plan.

Mediation for Child Arrangements and Financial Agreement

We understand that one issue can often be connected to another, and we are therefore happy for you to combine any of our mediation services together to find the best way forward that meets your individual needs. Mediation is charged in terms of the time taken rather than the service used. In combined sessions, we would start by inquiring which issues are the more pressing and might need to be discussed and agreed, first.

For example, if you would like to talk about child arrangements and finances you can do this at no extra charge.

Child Inclusive Mediation

Listening to Young People

The voice of the child is becoming more important in mediation.  Research shows that children benefit from being able to express their wishes and feelings and from the process of feeling heard. We follow Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which indicates that every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes and to have those views considered and taken seriously in all matters affecting them. We bring an acknowledgement into mediation sessions that children don't get to make the decisions, but that it is important that their wishes and feelings are heard.  

Children are afforded the same confidentiality as parents receive in the first MIAM assessment meeting, following the usual safeguarding guidelines.  This means that we only feedback to parents what the children agree to be fed back. Children can also find it very helpful to be given information about support for children that is available to them when their parents separate and tend to cope better with future arrangements when they have been given the opportunity to feed into decisions about those arrangements. Often, this might be the first time your child has spoken to anyone about how they are feeling, as children can tend to try to protect their parents when they see that they are finding things difficult by not expressing their own sadness and struggles with adjustments.

 Mediation is legally privileged and therefore children’s stated wishes, feelings or thoughts cannot be used in court proceedings.

Court Forms

What if we don’t reach an agreement in family mediation?

Whilst mediation can be very successful in resolving family disputes and facilitating positive agreements, there are sometimes cases where mediation is unable to resolve all issues in a situation. It is generally best to attempt mediation, and the courts actively encourage this, because at the very least, participants might succeed in ‘narrowing the issues’.

If you do not reach an agreement at mediation, the mediator will sign the necessary court form, and the case can then be heard by a judge or a magistrate.

It is always to be remembered, that during the mediation process, the decision making is in your hands. In court you give it over and lose that control.