What is Family Mediation?
Family mediation is for separating couples who need help reaching agreement on issues around their separation or divorce. As independent, professionally trained Family Mediation Council accredited mediators, we work with you to help you achieve a separation that is fair, meets yours and your family’s needs, and will be acceptable to a Court.
At the point of separation emotions can be raw and communication difficult. You may also be struggling with new ways of living and have little energy left for decision making.
You may have tried to talk things through hoping to reach an agreement but it hasn’t worked. You may feel stuck.
Watch this short video to learn more about mediation and how Horizon can help you.
This is Where a Mediator Comes In
At Horizon we have helped thousands of separating couples make parenting arrangements for their children, work out child maintenance payments and separate out finances.
Family Mediation is also useful where people have been separated or apart for some time, situations have changed, and agreements need to be re-visited.
Where couples didn’t reach a concluded agreement at the time of their separation, mediation can be useful in helping them re-visit and resolve outstanding financial issues. Without a legally binding agreement financial ties remain between those couples, which can result in unintended consequences.
Family mediation can also help keep children in touch with their grandparents or step-families.
We make sure that mediation is safe for you
We let you know in advance how we will set up the mediation meetings to ensure we are mediating safely.
Family Mediation is completely different to counselling or therapy
Unlike family mediators, counsellors and therapists may want to explore the entirety of your relationship with you to help you repair and understand why things went wrong.
Mediation is useful once the decision to separate has been made. It is a future-focussed process to help you separate and divorce, with far less cost and animosity, and much faster than legal proceedings.
This video produced by the University of Essex provides a clear idea of what Mediation involves.
Family Mediation differs from Court
If you go to Court an Order will be made that decides the future for you and your family. It can only be altered by an appeal or varied with the consent of the Court. It means if circumstances change you will need to refer back to Court.
If an Order is made that you don’t like, it cannot simply be undone.
Family Mediation will allow you both to keep control of the outcome. You will be able to talk through options and decide on the option that best meets each of your needs. The proposals you make can be made binding, as if you had gone to Court, and can develop in line with your family’s changing needs.
Family Mediation offers a flexibility and immediacy that Courts do not.
For more information email us at info@horizonmediation.co.uk, or contact one of our mediators by email, phone, text or through our contact page.