Mediation and Collaborative Law

Mediation offers an alternative way to resolve issues arising from separation and divorce. It seeks to assist people who have decided to separate or divorce to reach mutually acceptable proposals in relation to their children and financial arrangements, by negotiation and discussion rather than through the court process.

 

The task of the impartial mediator, is to help you and your partner determine what issues you need to resolve and then help you arrive at sensible and practical solutions that feel fair for both of you. At the end of the mediation you will both take your mutually acceptable proposals to your solicitor. Once they have approved the proposed settlement, the solicitors will advise you and complete the necessary legal formalities.

 

Our mediators have undergone thorough training and they are also specialist practising family solicitors. This can be invaluable in all areas of dispute: issues about where and with whom children are going to live; financial matters; divorce and separation issues; in fact, the whole range of family disputes.

 

Collaborative practice is a new way of resolving family law matters including divorce, separation and parenting disputes. Both you and your partner work with specially trained collaborative lawyers. You receive legal advice and guidance and, together with your lawyers, discuss and resolve issues through face-to-face meetings. Provided everyone enters the process in good faith, the process is faster and less acrimonious than court proceedings.

 

Each party signs an agreement that their collaborative lawyer cannot represent you at court if the collaborative process breaks down - neither the lawyers, nor their respective firms, can then act for you in any court-based proceedings.

 

By negotiating outside the court process you can set your own agenda according to what matters most to you and your family. There is less stress and you decide the pace and remain in control of the process.

 

Our collaborative practitioners are a supportive team, providing a creative approach to the legal, emotional and practical problems of family breakdown.