[Solved] Mediation Before A Court Order?

Hi Luke and welcome 🙂

I understand fully how you feel about Mediation but I think you will at some time have to attempt this....Since the Legal Aid reforms came into play in April mediation is recognized as the first step, and a court will expect that this process has at least been attempted. The only reasons that a court may accept to overlook mediation would be if there has been a history of domestic violence or harrassment.

You only get the form FM1 if you have been to mediation and its issued to you by the Mediator.

Your ex may find it easy to refuse you but if she were to receive a letter fron the mediation service asking her to attend an interview, she may find that harder to refuse...this can be the case as its a formal invitation from a third party. If you approach a mediation centre, you will be interviewed and will talk about what the issues are and what you would like to happen. The mediator would then ask your wife to attend, if she refuses then you will be issued with an FM1, if she attends but no agreement is reached, you will be issued with an FM1. If you reach agreement through Mediation you can have this written up in a Consent Order and rubber stamped in court.

Thanks for the help Nannyjane, I am just concerned that the fees will be way out of my league. I have read that they can be anything from £1000 upwards. I am working full time at the moment, and my ex is on benefits, so will she benefit from legal aid for Mediation? Do you think I would be able to get help financing it on £24,000 per year?

Thank you again for the help.

My mediation fees are £190 a session.

Depends on how quick you can or cannot resolve your issues.

My ex didnt want mediation so I find that Im going through court and still attending mediation where she is asking for money.

Im probably going to stop at my next session until we resolve the residency and contact issues.

Regards,

Dave

...If you go through ww.nfm.org.uk the fees will be less than if you were to use a solicitor. The NFM are a charitable organisation and do try to keep charges down. It has been mentioned that they try to align fees with salary and for people on a low income, or those on benefits then there is an exemption. If your ex is on benefits then I would think she will be exempt.

I think you could expect to pay anything from £90up to £150... But if you go outside the NFM you could pay in excess of that. The best thing to do would be to call them and get some more information.

Hi,

My partner is in a similar situation and has attended a MIAM which cost £95. He is now waiting to hear if his children's mother is willing to attempt mediation (she should have received a letter from the mediation service). He has been told if the mother qualifies for legal aid (we don't) then the £95 he paid for the MIAM will be refunded but further mediation sessions will have to be paid for. I've attached the info on Fees from the NFM that we were sent from them.

Hope that helps

* I tried to attach the Fee info but it must be too big a file on this forum

I've done a screen shot instead so hopefully that works.

Finally got it to work! :cheer:

Just another quick note: Our joint income is around £24,000 we have 2 dependants & we didn't qualify for legal aid. The mediator did spend some of the MIAM checking this though. It may still be worth checking if you can get legal aid because they go through your income & some of your outgoings so maybe you could still qualify.