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MEDIATION - WHAT IS IT?
Mediation is an alternative way to resolve all the issues that arise from the breakdown of your relationship or marriage. This can be money, housing, debt and very importantly, your children.
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Mediation allows you and your partner to sit down with a third party mediator and discuss all the issues that you want to talk about and how to resolve them.
When your relationship or marriage ends there can be disagreements about so many things and emotions such as anger and fear run high. Your mediator will help you to talk to each other to try and sort out a solution in a safe and controlled environment.
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Sometimes when you are angry or hurt the thought of sitting down with the person who has hurt you or made you angry might seem the hardest thing to do. However, with the calm presence of your mediator to guide you, it will become easier.
Mediation offers you the help and space to get the talking started and to focus on what really matters to you and your family.
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You might want to focus on what to do with the family home. Will one of you stay or will you have to sell it? Where will the children live?
Who is going to pay the bills and how will any joint savings or debt be dealt with?
MIAM
MEDIATION INFORMATION AND ADVICE MEETING
The starting point for mediation is a MIAM. This could be anything from 45 to 60 mins in length and both of you must attend this on your own before you can start the mediation process. The mediator will assess whether you are suitable to take part in the mediation process.
A MIAM is also a pre-requisite for an application to court on both finances and children matters. If the mediator does not think your case is suitable for mediation, they will sign a Form FM1 which has to be lodged with the court along with your application for financial and children matters.
If the mediator believes that mediation has a good chance of working for you both then they will arrange the first session. Typically each session is between 90 and 120 minutes. Sometimes it may be a little longer if real progress is being made or sometimes it might be less if there is information missing which makes moving forward difficult.
Your mediator will ask you to provide financial information after the first meeting and will usually then set a date for the next meeting. The meetings after this will be at your convenience and will be dependent on how quickly you want the process to work. If you feel the process is not working for you it is best to raise this with the mediator and then you can stop the process.
If you require an FM1 to be signed so that you can make an application to court, I can arrange for this to be done with an Accredited Mediator.
The fee for a MIAM is £150.00
WAYS TO MEDIATE
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