Frequently
Asked Questions

Family mediation is a voluntary and confidential process which provides separating and divorcing couples with the opportunity to make their own decisions about future arrangements for their children, finances and property.

Mediation can also be helpful when arrangements you’ve made before may need to change – typically as your children grow up.

The Mediation Journey starts with an individual, confidential Mediation Information & Assessment Meeting (MIAM).

You will be able to explain your unique situation and we can explore how mediation might work for you.

If everyone agrees, we arrange Joint Mediation Sessions. We will usually see you and your ex partner together, although we can also offer separate spaces. There will typically be between three and five meetings depending on the areas you choose to cover.
We manage the process. You decide the outcome.

Five reasons to choose Family Mediation:

– Family Mediation offers an alternative to stressful, expensive and protracted court battles.

– Choosing Family Mediation means that you’ll both be fully informed throughout the process. You’ll make the decisions together, for yourselves. 

– If you have children, we always prioritise their needs and wellbeing above all else. Children of an appropriate age can be consulted confidentially, without reports going to Court.

– The Mediation process is confidential. You will be free to say what you think and feel, in a calm and constructive forum. Openness can help you to resolve practical and emotional issues and truly move forward.

– Family Mediation works. FMC Registered Mediators have helped hundreds of thousands of families to agree on financial arrangements after separation, and to find a way to parent their children co-operatively after separation.nd lasting agreements.

We can help: 

– Couples who are separating, whether married or co-habiting, and who need help resolving issues relating to the separation of their finances and property.

– Parents who need to agree arrangements for their children after separation.

– If both parents agree, children can be included through Child Inclusive Mediation. This involves a separate confidential meeting between the child and a specially trained mediator.
 
– Grandparents and other wider family members who need help to resolve issues. 

Yes. Spa Family Mediation offers MIAMs and Joint Mediation Sessions online. We also offer an in-person service in Leamington Spa, Warwick, Kenilworth, Southam and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Legal aid is available to those who are eligible. You can visit
https://www.gov.uk/check-legal-aid to find out if you meet the criteria.

If you are not eligible for legal aid you will need to pay for the sessions between the two of you.

As a small independent practice, Spa Family Mediation does not offer legal aid, but we can signpost you to providers who are able to.

Family Mediation is not:

– Conciliation, reconciliation or marriage guidance. 

– Therapy.

– A legal advice service.

The Mediation Journey starts with an individual, confidential Mediation Information & Assessment Meeting (MIAM)

At your MIAM:

– You will have an opportunity to tell the mediator about your own unique personal situation and concerns.

– We will explain the mediation process to help you to decide whether you would like to move on to joint sessions (if the other party also agrees).

– We will also assess whether, in our professional view, the case is suitable for mediation.

– We will talk about alternative routes/sources of assistance that may be available to you.

Each case is different, and we will ensure the pace is right for you.

The number of joint sessions you need will depend on what you need to discuss.

It also depends on how much you are able to do outside the mediation meetings. There will often be tasks to be done by you both in between joint mediation sessions.

As a guide, it usually takes between three and five meetings to come to an agreement, depending on what you need to agree.

As Family Mediators, we work with you in a way that is flexible and tailor-made for your situation.

You do not have to be in the same space as your ex-partner if you feel that working in separate spaces would be preferable.

This is called shuttle mediation. We will discuss these options during your confidential Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings (MIAMs).

You will need to attend an individual Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) first.
We will contact your ex-partner to invite them to attend their own individual MIAM. 

If they are unwilling to attend, then we can provide you with the relevant Court Form (fee applies) so you can proceed to Court.

Mediation is voluntary, so we cannot force anyone to attend a MIAM or Joint Mediation Sessions.

If you would like to apply to the Court, you will need to show the judge that you’ve attended a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) other than in some exceptional circumstances. The MIAM is an individual, confidential meeting with a Mediator. 

If you decide to make an application to court to resolve an issue discussed at your MIAM, then you can ask us for a signed court form to show you attended, as long as you attended the MIAM within the last four months.

You do not have to attend Joint Mediation Sessions, as Mediation is voluntary.

Family Mediators are not able to give legal advice. However, they can provide general legal information.

For example, Mediators can tell you what the law says about financial settlements on divorce in general terms, but they cannot provide legal advice by telling you what that general law means for you, personally, in your particular circumstances.

The decisions you reach aren’t legally binding on their own.

During the Mediation process, we will explain what needs to happen to make an agreement between you legally binding. 

You can ask a Court to make what you’ve decided into a legally binding Consent Order. There is a separate cost for this Court application.

Most people going through Mediation find it helpful to have legal advice to support them. You can arrange this at any time.

Legal advice may be helpful for:

– Making a decision on any legal matter connected with your mediation discussions.

– Considering any proposed agreement reached through mediation.

– Turning the written agreement into a legally binding document, such as a consent order.

– Supporting you in preparing divorce papers for the court, if necessary.

You may be concerned about the cost of legal fees. However, if you’re working together to reach agreement through mediation, there is less need for a Solicitor’s time. This means that legal fees will be lower.

If your situation changes and the arrangements aren’t working, you can come back to Mediation. 

If you’ve made an agreement legally binding and someone doesn’t follow it, you can consider whether it can be sorted out with the help of a Mediator. You can also consider the other processes that your Mediator will have explained at the Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM), including going to Court.