In mediation you will discuss a range of ideas and options in the hope of reaching a successful outcome and set of proposals.
It will be important that you and your former partner both feel safe in the knowledge that any financial options you explore and proposals you reach in mediation cannot be ‘used against you’ in court, if mediation breaks down.
This is one main reason why the options you discuss and proposals you reach must remain confidential until you are both ready for these proposals to be made into a final binding order by the Judge and why it is important that you be given time, after each mediation session, to reflect on options explored and proposals reached in mediation.
Only the Judge can make your Financial mediated proposals binding in the form of a binding Consent Order. You cannot bind yourselves and your solicitors cannot bind you both.
If you settle on financial mediated proposals, your mediator will help by preparing these proposal in the form of a summary for you to discuss with your solicitors, before they help you decide whether to ask the Judge to make the proposals legally binding.
If it is a Financial mediation, the mediator will also summarise the financial information you have both provided in the form of an Open Financial Summary to help you to obtain advice from your solicitor about the options you are exploring in mediation.
If it is a Parent mediation it is often not necessary to obtain a court order by Consent. Indeed, it would be unusual to do so unless there is some good reason to do so which reflects the court non-intervention legal principle enshrined in the Children Act.
We hope that with the assistance of a trained, impartial and experienced mediator (many of whom are also lawyers), the whole process will be significantly less stressful than court proceedings, much quicker and cost a great deal less.
“Your mediator will help you and your former partner reach your own agreements and the best solutions for you and your family”