What Do I Need To Know About Family Mediation?

As a mediation service, we are frequently asked questions, mediation is quite unknown to most people unless they have gone through the process themselves, especially as it is usually a process that you can’t imagine yourself going through until you need it the most, depending on the situation the process can be different, but some questions are universal.

Who Pays?

As with most things especially with the current cost of living crisis, price is the first thing we worry about, for family mediation, each party pays for themselves unless it has been agreed otherwise, we are frequently asked as the other person has invited me why do I have to pay? It is a voluntary process, so you are not required to attend.

Do You Invite The Other Person For Me?

We contact the other party once you have completed your first appointment (Mediation Information Assessment Meeting – MIAM) to let the mediator know whether mediation is suitable. This allows you to find out if mediation is suitable for your situation or whether the other party is willing to mediate before spending money on mediation itself, and that first appointment opens the door to take the matter to court if you need to.

Can Mediation Fix My Relationship?

Mediation is more for legal agreements and helping you cooperate for whichever situation you are in rather than reconciliation, for example, if you would like to resolve child arrangements and build your co-parenting relationship for moving forward, we can definitely help with this! If you are trying to save your marriage? You may want to look into family counselling; they are more suited to dealing with emotional matters.

Is It Confidential?

Yes, everything said in mediation is confidential unless you say otherwise, prior to mediation you sign an agreement that states that whatever is said is confidential, no recording is allowed, no one else is in the room unless you agree beforehand and unless you request an agreement to be written up and sent off to court, whatever is agreed will not be legally binding unless ratified by courts.

Do I Have To See The Other Party To Mediate?

In short, you do not. Mediation can be done on a ‘shuttled’ basis, which means that the mediator will go between the two or more parties, discussing matters and negotiating as they go, for the most part, our appointments are done via video call, so if you want to be in the comfort of your own home, you can! We do offer face-to-face shuttled mediation but obviously, this can take more time and possibly more sessions.

How Long Is Mediation?

A joint family mediation session is up to 90 minutes in length, we can make exceptions and do longer or shorter if you need it but further costs may apply. Depending on what you need to discuss will dictate how many sessions you may require but for complex cases with multiple matters to discuss the most it usually takes is 5 sessions.

How Long Does This Take To Arrange?

You can have your individual appointment booked as early as the next day! For emergency cases, if we have the availability, you may even be able to get a same-day appointment.

You can also read...