Divorce and Separation Centre

Litigation v Mediation

The Divorce and Separation Centre can help you to reach practical decisions in your lives:

• Decisions about who should start legal proceedings - when and how to separate
• Decisions about children, their financial security and access
• Decisions about your joint assets

These decisions can be resolved in a dignified, non confrontational way, when they are helped along by a confidential and professional mediator.

Litigation

When you apply to the Family Court for adjudication the cost is more than just a financial one. Litigation involves:

• a considerable sum which often exceeds £10,000 each
• months of disruption, sometimes for more than a year, before a conclusion is reached
• the personal and emotional cost of going to court to make your case in front of a judge
• watching the judge, and not the two of you, deciding on your future and how your parental arrangements and finances will be settled

Mediation

Mediation provides you with the opportunity to work through the important issues in your life without going to court.

At the Divorce and Separation Centre we offer:

• a neutral third party, the mediator, who encourages and helps you to work out the solutions which make sense to you
• a real saving in time and cost - mediated cases are usually completed in three to five meetings over a period of two to four months, so they can cost considerably less. There is no cost if your means are below the Legal Aid ceiling.
• a written Memorandum drawn up by the mediator, setting out the joint voluntary decisions

Although mediated settlements are not legally binding in themselves, over the years, our experience has shown that the decisions you reach, because they are your own decisions, are more likely to last.

When you reach a joint set of proposals through mediation, you should not need to go to court in person. A solicitor will help if you need the Family Court to examine your proposals and approve them with an Order.