Mediation following a family separation

After our clients decided to separate, they used mediation in order to reach an agreement about their long-term financial and family arrangements.

The Case

Our clients Amanda and John had lived together (without having married) for nine years and had two young daughters

Having decided it would be best to separate they first tried to reach an agreement through their solicitors. However the process was both costly and contentious and they were eager to draw matters to a conclusion reach an agreement and go their separate ways without further debate and discord.

Initially they took part in mediation regarding their financial matters and were able to come to agreement in a number of areas:

• The sale of their jointly owned home and their contents (furniture and art), and division of the proceeds of sale.
• How their outstanding loans would be ‘shared’ and paid from the sale of their home.
• Child maintenance payment, an issue which had been particularly difficult between them.

Amanda and John both also raised a number of issues relating to their daughters and arranged a separate mediation meeting to deal solely these arrangements.

They both came to that mediation with clear ideas as to what they wanted to achieve and were able, in the space of 2 hours, to air their concerns and agree a schedule of contact for the following twelve months. This covered issues such as holidays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, the children’s birthdays, weekend contact and Christmas.

They were also able to agree about their eldest daughter’s change of school. This was an issue which they feared would be particularly difficult, but having established a dialogue they found relatively easy to deal it with face to face. They even went so far as to agree the best way to introduce future boyfriends and girlfriends and both expressed surprise that they were able to achieve so much.

The Outcome

Both Amanda and John left the mediation much more optimistic and with the necessary documentation for their solicitors regarding their future financial and family arrangements.