What is family mediation and how does it work?

What is family mediation?

Family mediation is an effective way to resolve a wide range of issues arising from a divorce, relationship breakdown or other family dispute. It often involves agreeing arrangements for children or addressing financial matters, but it can also cover any other practical issues you feel would benefit from discussion.

Mediation is not counselling, and it does not explore whether your relationship can or should continue. Instead of focusing on the emotional impact of the separation, it helps you manage the practical decisions that need to be made as you move forward. It is a future‑focused process.

Mediation is entirely voluntary, and you decide which issues you want to address, keeping you in control of the outcome.

What happens in family mediation?

The mediation sessions provide a flexible, bespoke forum, bringing you and the other party together in order to help identify, discuss and resolve the issues that you need to address.

The role of the mediator is to skilfully guide the discussions, by providing a structure to the issues that need to be addressed and ensuring the conversations continue in a productive and helpful manner. The mediator is independent but is there to assist you both in understanding what is important to you and to ensure you can make fully informed decisions about the future for you and your family. This is done by reality testing any potential options that are being explored. While a mediator cannot provide legal advice they can provide relevant information, including legal information, and can signpost you to other resources that will be helpful as the process unfolds.

If dealing with financial matters, the negotiations that take place within mediation are without prejudice, meaning that you should feel free to propose solutions safe in the knowledge that you will not be prejudiced if court proceedings later become necessary. Due to the without prejudice nature of the mediation process, you will usually be referred to solicitors to document any mutually agreeable solutions. The solicitors can then ensure that binding agreements, which are appropriately enforceable, are in place. Again, the mediator is there to offer assistance and guidance on when this may be appropriate.

How long will mediation take?

The mediation process is flexible and can be adapted to the specific needs of the parties involved.

The process will start by both parties attending a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM). This is where the mediator will set out information about mediation and discuss whether mediation is suitable for you and will last approximately one hour.

Once both parties have attended their MIAM and wish to proceed, the joint mediation sessions will begin. Typically, mediation sessions will last approximately one hour and thirty minutes, but some people prefer longer or shorter sessions. The number of sessions required will depend on the number and complexity of the issues involved, but it is common for there to be around three to five sessions. It should be clear by that stage whether mediation is likely to produce a helpful outcome.

There are alternative options to parties who do not wish to attend joint sessions which include shuttle mediation where both parties are in separate rooms and the mediator moves from room to room to facilitate that discussion.

If mediation is not successful, you can still explore other avenues for resolving the issues, including court proceedings. However, as of 29th April 2024, the Family Procedure Rules (FPR) in England and Wales require parties to consider Non-Court Dispute Resolution (NCDR) (mediation, arbitration, or negotiation) at every stage including before an application is made.

Many people will also find that mediation helps focus on the issues to be addressed, meaning that even if a full resolution is not reached it is likely that a partial resolution will be achieved that makes any further process quicker and less expensive than it would otherwise have been.

Family mediation

Boyes Turner's head of team, Paul Linsell, is an experienced and fully accredited mediator, trained via Resolution and registered with the Family Mediation Council. He is also qualified to conduct ‘hybrid family mediation’, where a skillset can be deployed where confidences are held between the parties to help move discussions forward more quickly. Our team also have extensive experience of supporting clients who are already engaged in the mediation process.

To find out more about mediation, get in touch with Boyes Turner's expert Family law team today.