hampshire family mediators

Family Mediation Isn’t

There Just to Sort Out

the Finances

There is a huge number of benefits of family mediation for every individual involved in the process of getting divorced or separated when a relationship breaks down. In many cases the benefits are purely financial, in that the mediation service can help sort through how assets are to be divided or what should happen with a property. There is also the financial benefit of avoiding the legal costs concerned with taking things to court. And that’s official. A full and thorough report into family mediation carried out a few years ago by the National Audit Office , and entitled “Value for Money Report”, clearly established that the average family law dispute case was finalised using family mediation more swiftly – and the legal costs were lower - when compared with of non-mediated cases.

 

However, the benefits of family mediation aren’t all about the money.

 

Family mediation is compulsory in many cases, and divorce court judges expect the parties to have already been through the process of mediation before they arrive in court. hampshire family mediation is not just limited to money matters – it allows you to resolve issues like custody or residence of the children, contact for grandparents and other contentious issues in a divorce, civil partnership dissolution or other relationship breakdown quickly and effectively.

 

If parties simply cannot agree and things do end up going to court, the only person who has a say about what happens in the end is the actual judge. Going through a hampshire family mediators means that everyone gets a say about the outcome, and the agreement happens through a process of compromise and negotiation. The entire mediation process is about communication, and , for the right people, this really does help to break down barriers and avoid misunderstandings. Parties usually come out of the process well, and importantly, as a result, are able to prove to the children of the relationship that their parents can, indeed, behave like adults and reach agreements which will stand them in good stead in the long run.

 

If you have recently separated and are finding it difficult to make arrangements for the care of children due to bad feeling and the relationship breakdown, then family mediation may prove to be the ideal way to help resolve differences without delay. Grandparents often find mediation particularly beneficial in resolving contact problems, as it can be devastating to be prevented from seeing grandchildren because of the breakdown of a son or daughter’s relationship.

 

In the majority of cases, divorcing or separating couples want to avoid going to court unless they really have to. Court should definitely be seen as a last resort, and should only be considered if problems just cannot be sorted out through discussion, or when a third party has to get involved with making a final judgement. The overwhelming majority of disagreements can be sorted out well before they get to the court stage – however difficult the negotiations may seem to be.

 

If you think that family mediation may help you resolve family law problems, the first step is to go to a Mediation Assessment Meeting (MIAM) to work out whether mediation is appropriate in your case. Divorcing couples can attend this meeting either together or separately. If at the MIAM family mediation is thought to be an appropriate way forward, you will then get more information about how to start the process and reach an agreement which everyone is happy with and stop any conflict and hurt.

 

Whilst family mediation doesn’t suit everyone – for those who do use it successfully, it really can make a massive difference to the pain and expense of relationship breakdown.