What is mediation?
You may be wondering what mediation is all about. You may be wondering if mediation actually works...
“Thank you Cathy. We achieved more in two hours of mediation than one year with our solicitors.”
In 2013 “nearly two thirds of couples who attended a single mediation session for a child dispute reached a full agreement. Almost seven out of every ten couples who opted for mediation reached an agreement.”
Integrated Mediation’ is a relatively new form of mediation, where you can invite your solicitor or another professional to join a mediation session, in a supportive, advisory capacity, provided everyone agrees this would be beneficial to the process.
This can help avoid a lot of legal correspondence afterwards, and your solicitor can potentially assist in making any joint proposals legally binding.
In addition to lawyers, Integrated Mediation may include Women’s Aid support workers, social workers, mental health advocates, therapists, or wider family members.
Both Catherine and Philippa are trained and experienced proponents of Integrated Mediation.
How does mediation work?
Mediation is a voluntary and confidential process which enables both parties to explain their concerns and needs to each other in the presence of a qualified mediator, reducing conflict by improving communication and understanding, allowing you to make informed, balanced decisions about your future.
“Cathy handled the communication between us wonderfully, allowing us to make our relevant points, quite a few of which sat outside of the scope of mediation, but always brought us back to the goal in hand.”
What can I expect?
At Stratford Family Mediation practice, Catherine specialises in helping resolve disputes involving all kinds of family relationships, with mediation sessions focused on you and your unique circumstances.
Catherine will offer support and direction for clients who want to separate, divorce and parent amicably, or want to resolve other family disputes, for example between older children or relatives.
Of course, this is far easier said than done, and a lack of faith or trust can be normal as well as distressing, but Catherine will take you through your dispute resolution options so you can reach an agreement that suits your situation.
“I cannot thank Cathy enough for her support and calming nature. I would highly recommend her services to anyone seeking the guidance of a mediator for dispute resolution.”
What do I do next?
To book an introductory meeting with Catherine, please click here.
NEED A MIAM? WE CAN HELP
Contact Catherine if you need a MIAM – Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting – and authorised court application forms for England and Wales (Form C100, Form A).
“Despite family mediation not resolving matters for us, the experience overall was invaluable and the one thing in a very painful process that was positive. Cathy is an extraordinary professional in her field, but it is Cathy as a person who made space for my son that was the most beneficial – and healing.”
Stratford Family Mediation Services
Divorce & Separation
Where a marriage or relationship has irretrievably broken down, mediation can help minimise distress to everyone involved.
Together with an impartial mediator you can work logically through each issue, even where conflict exists or communication has broken down.
You do not necessarily have to be in the same room or on the same Zoom screen to mediate if you would feel uncomfortable.
At the end of mediation, we can write up a Summary of Proposals’ without prejudice document, which you can take to your solicitor.
Mediation is especially useful for couples who are not married, and therefore fall under Civil, rather than Family, legislation.
“Nearly two thirds of couples who attended a single mediation session for a child dispute reached a full agreement. Almost seven out of every ten couples who opted for mediation reached an agreement.”
Source: Ministry of Justice 20 August 2014
“You were epic, and a tower of support.”
“Cathy was extremely organised, always listened and offered helpful information, gave impartial views on the interpretation of what was being said and suggested there may be other ways of interpreting a comment, rather than the way I may be interpreting it.”
Children
Mediation promotes a good relationship between parents and children, obviously taking safeguarding risks into account.
Mediation also avoids any unnecessary costs, especially if we apply for a Mediation Voucher which can cover up to £500 of expenses, including the cost of a Child Inclusive Mediation (CIM) session.
Child Inclusive Mediation is an additional service all our mediators are qualified to offer. CIM gives children the opportunity to talk with the mediator working with their parents, and share their views or concerns about the current and future situation.
This meeting is confidential, but the young person can agree a message to be relayed to parents via the mediator.
In our experience, giving children the opportunity to voice their opinions always makes a valuable contribution to the mediation process and enables the adults to make informed decisions about arrangements for their children.
“I wanted to thank you again for the way you put the children at ease yesterday during our mediation. I thought you were incredibly professional and clearly highly experienced at questioning children in a way that made them feel safe to speak during a very anxious time.”
“For the first time in a long, drawn-out divorce, Cathy provided an opportunity for my son’s needs and wishes to be heard.”
Property & Finances
“Mediation is proven to resolve finance-related disputes in a quicker, less stressful manner. The cost of mediation vs legal fees is undisputed, with mediation proving less costly and more effective.”
Source: National Audit Office
Mediation follows the same Open Financial Disclosure process as the court, but you make the decisions about your property and finances, rather than asking a judge to decide for you.
If we decide expert advice would be helpful – such as Pensions on Divorce Expert – we can arrange for them to join the mediation session.
At the end of mediation, we can produce an Open Financial Summary document setting out your current financial position. We can also prepare a separate Summary of Proposals (or Memorandum of Understanding) which clearly records your proposals. This can be taken to a solicitor to submit to court as part of your divorce process, to get a Consent Order and ‘clean financial break’.
“Thank you Cathy. We achieved more in two hours of mediation than one year with our solicitors.”
“I cannot overstate how much Cathy’s involvement removed the stress, gave me comfort, organised my mind on the tasks in hand, but most of all gave me someone I could trust.”
Meetings
Meetings can be held on Zoom or face-to-face in the office in Chipping Campden.
An initial Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) is completely confidential, usually takes about one hour, and is a chance for you to explain the situation from your perspective.
A first mediation session usually lasts about two hours, and subsequent meetings 90 minutes – but this is flexible.
The number of sessions depends on the complexity of the case, but regarding finances, if you have prepared all your financial information beforehand, then it can be relatively quick to reach an agreement.
You will dictate the pace of mediation. Everything can be ‘turned around’ in two weeks if you want a quick resolution. Other couples want to move more slowly, and it can take a year or more – but you decide how quickly mediation progresses.
“Cathy is a fantastic, patient and very diplomatic mediator. She is able to impartially assist in delicate negotiations and defuse any uncomfortable disagreements in her lovely, sympathetic and – where possible – jolly way, evaporating any tension between the couple to reach the correct outcome in their separation.”
Paying for Mediation
If your mediation includes child arrangements, ask us about the Mediation Voucher Scheme, which is not means-tested, and may pay up to £500 of your mediation costs.
An initial MIAM meeting costs £125. (This includes the cost of a MIAM Certificate if you choose to make a court application.) Sadly, the voucher doesn’t cover the cost of a MIAM.
Mediation costs £125 per hour, per person. A better indication of the total cost of mediation is the number of sessions required, but we aim to help you reach an agreement in as few meetings as possible.
You will potentially want three documents from your mediator:
Open Financial Summary which records your complete financial position.
Summary of Proposals setting out your decisions, the underlying reasons, and why you believe it is fair.
Parenting Plan recording your co-parenting arrangements.
These cost £250 each (£125 per person).
“Cathy has been my rock and has given me an insight into how mediation can
truly be a massively effective tool to sort out even the most emotionally charged
and difficult situations.”
If you receive a benefit, like Universal Credit, or had a gross income of less than £2,657 during the past month, and under a formula that takes expenses, capital assets and savings into account, you might qualify for Legal Aid we can refer you to a mediation service with a Legal Aid contract.
Another option for reducing the cost of mediation is to allow a trainee mediator to observe or co-mediate your sessions. Please ask Catherine for more details.
Integrated Mediation
‘Integrated Mediation’ is a relatively new form of mediation, where you can invite your solicitor or another professional to join a mediation session, in a supportive, advisory capacity, provided everyone agrees this would be beneficial to the process.
This can help avoid a lot of legal correspondence afterwards, and your solicitor can potentially assist in making any joint proposals legally binding.
In addition to lawyers, Integrated Mediation may include Women’s Aid support workers, social workers, mental health advocates, therapists, or wider family members.
Both Catherine and Philippa are trained and experienced proponents of Integrated Mediation.
“Thank you for your help with the mediation process in this case. It was a pleasure working with you. It was a good reminder to me of how effective mediation is and that it is a much better way for parties to attempt agreement than court proceedings.” (solicitor)
The 4 core principles of mediation
Voluntary
Mediation is voluntary.
Confidential
Mediation is confidential, except where there is risk of harm to a child or vulnerable adult or where the court requires disclosure. (See Data Protection)
Impartial
Mediators are impartial; they facilitate negotiation towards settlement and have no vested interest in the outcome.
Decision Making
Decision making rests with participants in mediation.
Mediation is underpinned by:
Mediation is NOT:
- Reconciliation
- Counselling or therapy
- A substitute for legal advice
- An opportunity to impose views upon the other party to the mediation
- An opportunity to abuse or bully participants to the mediation process
- Legally binding
- Imposed
AIMS OF MEDIATION
The Family Mediation Council Code of Practice 2010 defines the aims of mediation as:
‘2.1 Mediation aims to assist participants to reach the decisions they consider appropriate to their own particular circumstances.
2.2 Mediation also aims to assist participants to communicate with one another now and in the future and to reduce the scope or intensity of dispute and conflict within the family.
2.3 Where a marriage or relationship has irretrievably broken down, mediation has regard to the principles that the marriage or relationship should be brought to an end in a way that a) minimises distress to the participants and to any children; b) promotes as good a relationship between the participants and any children as is possible; c) removes or diminishes any risk of abuse to any of the participants or children from the other participants; and d) avoids any unnecessary cost to participants.’
Source: FMC COP