Case Studies

Family mediation case studies: eight real life examples of mediation

Below are eight real life examples of mediation from Mediate UK. Each one is a genuine case from the 23,000+ families we have helped, with the names changed. For every case you can see what was in dispute, who the mediator was, how many sessions it took, exactly what it cost, whether the £500 family mediation voucher or legal aid was used, and roughly how much the family saved against the cost of going to court.

Across these eight cases the couples paid around £18,500 plus VAT in total and avoided an estimated £219,000 in legal fees and litigation costs. Nine out of ten of our clients who attend joint mediation reach a full or partial agreement, and you can see how we measure that in our 2025 mediation outcomes report.

Mediation case studies compared: cost, what it covered and legal fees saved

This table compares all eight mediation examples side by side, including whether the price covered the legal documents or only the mediation itself. Scroll sideways on a mobile to see every column.

Every mediator named above is a member of the Family Mediation Council. You can read about the team on our our mediators page. Where a case included a consent order, it was drafted by one of the solicitors on our legal partners panel. Expert fees for pension reports and business valuations are excluded from the totals above and shown against the individual case studies. All prices exclude VAT, in line with our published mediation costs.

Case study 1: a financial settlement and clean break consent order agreed in mediation

Tony and Elaine used financial mediation and our fixed fee consent order package to divide a house and two pensions, and to agree how their daughter would spend time with each of them. They paid £1,649 each plus VAT and finished in 14 weeks.

Who worked on this case

Allison Borchardt

Mediator. Ran the MIAMs and all three joint sessions

Emma Kirkland

Family solicitor, DFA Law. Drafted the clean break consent order and dealt with the court

The situation

Tony and Elaine had been married for 16 years and had a 14-year-old daughter. They wanted to keep things amicable and to divorce without solicitors running the process, so that nothing disrupted their daughter’s schooling. They had already agreed that Tony would move out and rent locally once the finances were settled, and that their daughter would spend two nights a week with him.

Both had instructed solicitors, and two rounds of correspondence had already gone between the firms. The letters were becoming pointed and the costs were mounting on both sides. Elaine was worried she could not afford to stay in the house. Tony was worried he could not afford to rent nearby. Neither of them wanted the fight their friends had been through.

What happened in mediation

• Both completed a MIAM, then exchanged a full financial disclosure. The house had £310,000 of equity. Tony’s pension had a transfer value of £186,000 and Elaine’s £42,000.
• Allison built a budget for each household so they could both see what was actually affordable, rather than arguing over a number in the abstract.
• They agreed the house would be sold in five years, when their daughter finished school, with Elaine staying in it until then and paying the mortgage.
• Rather than share the pensions, they each kept their own and adjusted the split of the house equity to reflect the difference, so that both of them were fairly provided for at retirement.
• Allison pointed out that Elaine was likely to qualify for universal credit, which changed her budget and made the arrangement work.
• They also produced a parenting plan covering term time, holidays and how they would each handle new partners.

The outcome

An open financial statement and a memorandum of understanding were produced at the end of the third session. Our solicitor drafted a clean break financial consent order, submitted it to court and dealt with the court’s questions. The order was sealed 14 weeks after their first MIAM. They both stood down their solicitors.

Why this case worked

Tony and Elaine had already agreed the things that matter most, so the job was to turn goodwill into a fair, legally binding settlement without either of them being taken advantage of. The fixed fee package mattered as much as the mediation itself. They had very little spare money and knowing the total cost up front, rather than watching an hourly rate tick up on two solicitor files, is what allowed them to commit to the process.

What we cannot promise. Mediation cannot guarantee an outcome. Tony and Elaine had already agreed the shape of things before they walked in, which is why 14 weeks was possible. Couples who start further apart take longer, and some do not reach an agreement at all.

Case study 2: a barrister review breaks a deadlock over the family home

Bill and Alice were around £40,000 apart and heading for a contested hearing. An independent barrister review told them both what a court was likely to order, and they settled two weeks later.

Who worked on this case

Kate Miller

Mediator. Ran the MIAMs and joint sessions

Charmian Jackson

Family law barrister, St Ives Chambers. Wrote the independent barrister review

Emma Kirkland

Family solicitor, DFA Law. Drafted the consent order

The situation

Bill and Alice had been married for six years and had two young children. They had been separated for six months and tensions were high. Bill had moved out and started a new relationship. It was already agreed that the children would live mainly with Alice and see Bill twice a week.

The money was the problem. Bill wanted the house sold and the equity split equally, because he had put in the deposit and did not want to rent while still being tied to a mortgage he could not use. Alice wanted to stay in the house until the children had grown up, and wanted a contribution towards the mortgage and the children. There was £120,000 of equity, which was not enough to house two families.

What happened in mediation

• Financial disclosure was exchanged and both positions were set out clearly. They were roughly £40,000 apart and neither would move.
• Kate worked through options for maximising both incomes, but after two sessions it was clear they were stuck. Both had been told by solicitors that they had a good case, which is a common reason people dig in.
• Rather than issue an application, they jointly instructed a family law barrister to write an independent review of what a court was likely to order.

What the barrister review said

• The overriding consideration was housing the children.
• £120,000 of equity would not rehouse both of them. Bill could raise a further mortgage. Alice, as the main carer working part time, could not.
• A Mesher order was the likely outcome. Alice would stay in the home, which would be sold when the youngest child turned 18, or earlier if she remarried, died, lived with a new partner for more than six months, or both of them agreed.
• On sale, a split of around 60/40 in Alice’s favour was likely, reflecting the cost of raising the children and her reduced earning capacity.
• Bill had a surplus on his budget where Alice had a shortfall, so spousal maintenance covering half the mortgage was likely to be ordered.

The outcome

Neither of them was happy with the review, which is often the sign of a good one. They came back for a third session. Bill accepted the deferred sale and agreed to pay more spousal maintenance than he had offered. Alice accepted 55/45 rather than 60/40, recognising that Bill would be renting for years while still named on the mortgage. That was written into a memorandum of understanding, drafted into a consent order by our solicitor, and approved by a judge.

Why this case worked

Both of them had come to mediation partly to show the court they had behaved reasonably, and both expected to end up in front of a judge. The barrister review changed that. It gave them a neutral, expert answer instead of two opposing solicitors’ opinions, and once they could see the likely outcome, they could negotiate around it rather than about it. A contested financial hearing can cost £30,000 plus VAT or more each, according to MoneyHelper. They kept that money in the family instead.

What we cannot promise. A barrister review sets out what a court is likely to order. It is not a ruling, it does not bind either of you, and some couples read one and still cannot agree. Bill and Alice were free to walk away at any point, and a judge could have declined to approve what they agreed.

Case study 3: sharing a pension after a 27-year marriage

Marcus and Sophie used pension mediation and a jointly instructed pension expert to work out a fair split of a defined benefit pension. They agreed a pension sharing order that equalised their income in retirement rather than the transfer values.

Who worked on this case

Neil Sykes

Mediator. Ran the MIAMs and all four joint sessions

Rhiannon Compton

Family solicitor, Family Legal Solicitors. Drafted the consent order and the pension sharing annex

The situation

Marcus and Sophie were both in their early fifties and had been married for 27 years. Their two children were grown up and had left home. There was no argument about the children and no real argument about the house, which they had agreed to sell and split equally. The pensions were the sticking point.

Marcus had a public sector defined benefit pension with a transfer value of £480,000. Sophie had worked part time for most of the marriage while the children were young and had £61,000 across two workplace pensions. Sophie had read that pensions should be split equally. Marcus felt that a pension he had paid into for 30 years should be treated differently from a joint asset, and had been told by a colleague that Sophie could simply take more of the house instead.

What happened in mediation

• Neil explained the difference between a defined benefit and a defined contribution pension, and why a transfer value on a public sector scheme is a poor guide to what the pension is actually worth to the person receiving it.
• He also explained why offsetting a large defined benefit pension against a modest amount of housing equity rarely produces a fair result, and why courts are cautious about it on a long marriage.
• They jointly instructed a pension on divorce expert. The report cost £2,400 and they split it equally. Our published guidance is that a report of this kind costs between £1,000 and £5,000 depending on complexity.
• The report showed that sharing the transfer values equally would have left Sophie with substantially less pension income than Marcus, because of the way his scheme accrued. To equalise income at retirement, Sophie needed a 38% share of his pension, not 50% of the transfer value.
• They used the fourth session to work through what that meant for each of them in practice, year by year, from the point they each planned to retire.

The outcome

They agreed a pension sharing order giving Sophie 38% of Marcus’s scheme, an equal split of the house proceeds, and a clean break on everything else. Our solicitor drafted the consent order and the accompanying pension sharing annex, and it was sealed by the court without a hearing.

Why this case worked

This is a case where the expert report was worth every penny. Both of them had been given confident advice by people who were not pension specialists, and both were wrong. Once they had a proper answer they stopped arguing about principle and started dealing with numbers. If you want the background on how this works, our guide to pensions on divorce covers it in detail.

What we cannot promise. A pension report gives you the numbers. It does not settle the argument on its own. The 38% share was right for this couple’s circumstances and is not a general rule, and pension cases like this one do sometimes end up in court.

Case study 4: a parenting plan agreed in one online session, paid for by the £500 voucher

Josh and Bethany could not have a conversation without it turning into an argument. One 90-minute online mediation session produced a parenting plan they are both still using. The government family mediation voucher covered the session, so they paid £410 plus VAT between them.

Who worked on this case

Hannah Shapey

Mediator. Ran both MIAMs, the joint session and drafted the parenting plan

The situation

Josh and Bethany separated when their son was three, and he is now five. Both of them wanted to move on amicably. Neither of them could manage a phone call without it ending badly. Bethany had moved 140 miles to be near her mother, which Josh had found out about after the event, and he and his son were missing each other badly.

Josh had been quoted £1,800 by a solicitor to send a letter and start a C100 application. He booked a MIAM instead, mostly because he had to before he could apply to court anyway.

What happened in mediation

• Both attended a MIAM. Hannah confirmed they qualified for the family mediation voucher, which is not means tested and is available where the mediation involves arrangements for children. The voucher covers the mediation sessions, not the MIAM and not the drafting of the parenting plan, so £360 of the £500 was used. Neither of them was eligible for legal aid, which is means tested, so the voucher was the funding that applied here.
• They had a single 90-minute joint session online. Being in separate homes rather than the same room took a lot of heat out of it, and neither of them had to travel.
• Once they were talking about their son rather than about each other, the distance turned out to be workable. They agreed alternate weekends with Josh travelling one way and Bethany the other, longer blocks in school holidays, and a set video call three evenings a week.
• Hannah drafted the parenting plan and set out how they would review it as their son got older.

The outcome

A signed parenting plan in three weeks, no court application, and the two of them communicating through a shared calendar rather than through arguments. They chose not to convert the plan into a child arrangements order, on the basis that they would rather keep it flexible.

Why this case worked

Reaching an agreement in one joint session is unusual. Most parenting cases take two or three. What made the difference here is that the disagreement was never really complicated. They simply had no safe way of having the conversation. Give two reasonable parents a neutral third person and 90 minutes, and a surprising number of these disputes solve themselves. The voucher meant the whole thing cost them less than the solicitor’s letter would have.

What we cannot promise. The £500 voucher depends on government funding being available at the time you apply, so it cannot be promised to anyone in advance. Nor could we have promised Josh and Bethany an agreement in one session before they started, and we cannot promise it to you.

Case study 5: shuttle mediation, child inclusive mediation and a return from court

Harry and Ellen tried shuttle mediation, heard from their children through child inclusive mediation, then went to court anyway. A judge sent them back to mediation, where they agreed almost exactly what the children had asked for in the first place. This is the case study we include as a warning.

Who worked on this case

Rachel Poole

Mediator. Ran the shuttle sessions and the child inclusive process

The situation

Harry and Ellen were in the middle of a bitter divorce. They were living separately and had agreed nothing about their two children, aged 12 and 14. Ellen had started a child arrangements order application, and because she had to attend a MIAM first, she decided to try mediation properly. Harry agreed, on the condition that he did not have to be in the same room as her.

What happened in mediation

• Rachel ran the first two sessions as shuttle mediation, with Harry and Ellen in separate rooms and the mediator moving between them. Shuttle sessions run to two hours rather than 90 minutes, because everything has to be carried across twice.
• Harry wanted a week-on, week-off arrangement. Ellen would not go beyond three nights a week. After two sessions they were no closer.
• They did agree on one thing, which was that the children should be asked. Rachel wrote to both children and met each of them separately.
• Both children said they wanted to be with their mum during the week in term time, and were happy to see more of their dad at weekends and in the holidays.
• Harry was upset by this, did not accept it, and ended the mediation. He applied to court for a shared care order.

What happened at court

• There were two hearings across seven months. Cafcass were instructed to report on both parents and to interview both children.
• The children said exactly what they had said in mediation, and were unhappy at having to say it again to another stranger.
• At the second hearing the judge was direct with Harry about bringing the case at all when his children’s views were already known, and sent them back to mediation.

The outcome

They returned to Rachel and picked up where they had left off. Two further sessions produced an agreement that the children would be with Harry every other weekend plus one evening a week, with holidays shared equally. That was drafted into a parenting plan and later made into a child arrangements order by consent. It is very close to what the children described eleven months earlier.

Why we include this case

Two reasons. First, it shows what child inclusive mediation is for. Courts want to know what children of that age think, and the law is built around their welfare, so a parent who disregards their children’s clearly expressed views is unlikely to be rewarded for it. Second, it is honest about the cost of not settling. Harry and Ellen spent around £16,000 and eleven months to arrive at an arrangement that was on the table in month two. Private law children cases took an average of 37 weeks to conclude in 2025, according to Ministry of Justice figures reported by Today’s Family Lawyer. Mediation is not always the cheaper option in the moment. It is almost always the cheaper option in the end.

What we cannot promise. This case is on the page precisely because it did not go smoothly. Mediation is voluntary and either of you can end it at any point, which is exactly what Harry did. We cannot stop a case going to court, and we cannot promise it will come back to us.

Case study 6: child arrangements agreed on legal aid, at no cost to either parent

Aisha and Daniel both qualified for legal aid for family mediation, so their MIAMs and all three joint sessions were free to both of them and paid for by the Legal Aid Agency. They agreed term-time and holiday arrangements for two children in seven weeks.

Who worked on this case

Penny Hogan

Mediator. Ran both MIAMs, all three joint sessions and drafted the parenting plan

The situation

Aisha and Daniel separated after nine years together. They were not married, so there was no divorce and no financial claim to resolve. The disagreement was about the children, aged four and eight. Daniel was seeing them irregularly, usually whenever he and Aisha were on speaking terms, and the eight-year-old had started asking questions neither of them wanted to answer.

Money was tight for both households. Aisha was receiving universal credit. Daniel was working but on a low income with no savings. Both had assumed that mediation was something they could not afford and that court was the only free option, which is a very common and very expensive misunderstanding.

What happened in mediation

• Aisha found our legal aid eligibility checker and completed it in a few minutes. She sent in her evidence of benefits and was confirmed as eligible. Daniel completed the same checker and was also eligible on income.
• Because both qualified, every part of the process was free to them. Mediate UK holds a Legal Aid Agency contract, so we are paid directly by the Agency rather than by the client. If only one of them had qualified, that person would still have been free, the other would have had their MIAM and first joint session covered, and they could then have applied for the £500 voucher towards the rest.
• Penny used the first joint session on the practical framework, the second on holidays and Christmas, and the third on how they would handle changes, illness and short-notice swaps without it becoming an argument.
• Handovers were the real problem. They agreed to use the school gate for weekday changeovers and a supermarket car park at weekends, so neither of them had to go to the other’s home.

The outcome

A written parenting plan covering term time, holidays, birthdays, Christmas and handovers, agreed seven weeks after Aisha’s first call, at no cost to either of them. No court application was made.

Why this case worked

Legal aid for mediation is far more widely available than people think, and it is not limited to child arrangements. It can be used for any family mediation matter, including finances. The number of mediators offering it has fallen by roughly half since 2018, with only 238 left in 2025 according to the Family Mediation Council, which is why many people are told it is not available to them. If one person qualifies, their MIAM and mediation are free, and the other person’s MIAM and first joint session are covered as well. It costs nothing to check.

What we cannot promise. Legal aid is assessed on your financial circumstances at the time you apply, case by case, so nobody can tell you in advance that you will qualify. Seven weeks was quick for a case like this and is not something we would promise.

Case study 7: an amicable couple use facilitation to get a consent order

Danni and Jake had already agreed how to divide everything. They wanted one independent expert to check it was fair and turn it into a binding order, without two solicitors turning a settled matter into a dispute. They used our facilitation service and finished in four weeks.

Who worked on this case

Chris Yaffes

Facilitator. Reviewed the disclosure and ran the facilitation session

Emma Kirkland

Family solicitor, DFA Law. Drafted the consent order and completed the D81

The situation

Danni and Jake had been married for a few years and had no children. They both accepted early on that the marriage had been a mistake, and after an initial round of arguing and threats of legal action, they decided they would rather work together and move on.

They had reached a general agreement about the money but wanted an independent expert to sense-check it. Danni had seen a solicitor who encouraged her to push for considerably more of the assets, which had the opposite effect to the one intended and put her off using a solicitor at all.

What happened in facilitation

• They had a free 15-minute call first and agreed the facilitation route rather than full mediation, because there was no real dispute to mediate.
• Both sent in their financial disclosure and a summary of what they had agreed. Chris reviewed it before the meeting and prepared his notes.
• In the 90-minute online session he confirmed the disclosure was complete and checked the property arrangement worked for both of them.
• They had not discussed spousal maintenance, pensions or their debts at all. Chris took them through each in turn, and they agreed to keep all pensions, other assets and liabilities in their own names with a clean break.
• He produced an open financial statement and a memorandum of understanding, which they both signed off after a few days to think about it.

The outcome

Our family law solicitor drafted the consent order and completed the D81, submitted it and dealt with two questions the court came back with, all inside the fixed fee. Danni and Jake managed their own divorce application through the government portal. The order was sealed and is legally binding.

Why this case worked

Not everyone who needs a consent order needs mediation. A solicitor can only act for one of you, which is why an amicable couple who instruct two firms often end up in a fight neither of them wanted. Facilitation lets one independent expert work with both of you, check that everything a court expects you to have considered has actually been considered, and then hand it to a solicitor to draft. The saving here is modest compared with the other cases on this page, because Danni and Jake were never heading for court. What they avoided was the argument.

What we cannot promise. Facilitation only works where you have genuinely agreed already. If a real dispute surfaces during the session, the process stops and you would need full mediation instead. The court also has the final say on any consent order and can refuse to approve one.

Case study 8: dividing a family business without a contested hearing

Ray and Nadia owned a limited company together. Business mediation and a single jointly instructed valuer allowed them to settle without a forensic accountancy battle, which is where cases like this usually end up.

Who worked on this case

Mitchell Robertson

Mediator. Ran the MIAMs and all four joint sessions

Emma Kirkland

Family solicitor, DFA Law. Drafted the consent order

The situation

Ray and Nadia had been married for 12 years and had built a specialist installation business together. Ray ran the operational side and held 60% of the shares. Nadia held 40%, did the books and had managed the company’s finances since it started. They had two children at secondary school, and no disagreement at all about the arrangements for them.

The business was the whole argument. Ray said it was worth very little without him, because the contracts followed him personally. Nadia said Ray was understating it to keep her share down, and had been told by a friend that she should instruct a forensic accountant. Two accountants producing two opposing valuations is how these cases turn into five-figure legal bills before anybody has discussed a settlement.

What happened in mediation

• Mitchell’s first job was to get them to agree on one valuer rather than two. They jointly instructed a single joint expert at a cost of £3,000, split equally.
• The valuation put the net value of the company at £340,000, and confirmed that a good deal of the value did depend on Ray staying, which was partly Ray’s point and partly not.
• Mitchell walked them through the realistic options. Selling the company would have destroyed most of its value. Continuing to own it jointly after separating was, in their case, unworkable.
• They looked at a staged buy-out against extracting cash from the business, and at the tax consequences of each. Both took separate advice from their own accountant between sessions and brought the answers back.
• The final two sessions were spent on making the numbers safe for Nadia, since a buy-out paid over time carries a risk that a lump sum does not.

The outcome

Nadia transferred her shares to Ray. In return she received the larger share of the equity in the family home and a series of payments from the company over three years, secured by a charge over the property. Ray kept the business intact and his income with it. Our solicitor drafted the consent order and it was approved without a hearing.

Why this case worked

A single joint expert costs one fee instead of two, and produces one answer instead of an argument. That is the difference between a business case that settles and a business case that runs to a contested final hearing at £30,000 plus VAT or more each. Both of them also had something the court process would have threatened, which was a working business that paid for both households and employed nine other people.

What we cannot promise. Business cases are the hardest financial cases to settle, and a fair number do not settle. A single joint expert only helps if both of you are willing to accept the valuation. Ray and Nadia chose to. They did not have to, and neither of them could have been made to.

What these real life examples of mediation have in common

Eight very different families, eight different disputes. The same five things kept coming up.

• Nobody was as far apart as they thought. In six of the eight cases, the gap between the two positions at the first session was smaller than the cost of arguing about it.
• An independent answer beats two opposing opinions. The cases that moved fastest were the ones where a neutral expert supplied a fact: a barrister review, a pension report, a single joint valuation.
• Cost certainty changes behaviour. Every couple here knew what the process would cost before they started. People negotiate very differently when the meter is not running.
• Funding is more available than people expect. One of these eight paid nothing at all, and another paid £410 between them. Both had assumed mediation was out of reach.
• Court rarely produces a better answer. The one couple who went to court came back to mediation eleven months and around £16,000 later, and agreed close to what was already on the table.

What did the mediation actually cost in each case?

These are our published rates, which is what the couples above were charged. The third column is the one people miss: mediation on its own ends with a memorandum of understanding or a parenting plan, which records what you agreed but does not bind you. Only the packages marked yes include a solicitor-drafted court order. Every price is per person and excludes VAT, and there are no hidden extras. You can see the full detail on our mediation costs page and our fixed fee legal packages.

The same person cannot use legal aid and the £500 voucher for the same sessions, but both can appear in one case: where one of you is eligible for legal aid and the other is not, the non-legally aided person can still apply for the voucher. Expert fees are separate again and are paid to the expert, not to us: a pension on divorce report costs £1,000 to £5,000 depending on complexity, and a single joint expert business valuation typically £2,000 to £5,000. Those costs arise whether you mediate or go to court, which is why they are excluded from the totals on this page.

How we work out the legal fees saved

The savings figures on this page are estimates, not audited numbers. We would rather show you the method than ask you to take the total on trust. For each case we take the route that family was realistically heading down, apply a published benchmark cost for that route, and subtract what the couple actually paid us.

Expert fees sit outside this calculation on both sides. A pension report or a business valuation is needed whether you mediate or litigate, so counting it as a mediation cost, or as a saving, would flatter the numbers in one direction or the other.

Worked example, case 2. Bill and Alice were both preparing to issue a financial application, so the contested benchmark applies: £30,000 each, or £60,000 for the couple. They paid £3,808 to us. The estimated saving is therefore around £56,000. We round down and we do not count the value of the time, the stress or the eleven months. Your own case may cost more or less than any of these figures, and nothing on this page is a quote or legal advice.

Alternative dispute resolution case studies: how the options compare

Family mediation is one form of alternative dispute resolution. The eight cases above between them used five different routes. This table sets out what each one is, who makes the decision, and roughly what it costs, so you can see which of the case studies is closest to your own situation.

Mediation case studies: common questions

Are these mediation case studies real?

Yes. Every case on this page is a genuine Mediate UK case. All names and identifying details have been changed and some details have been altered slightly to make sure no client can be identified. The disputes, the process, the number of sessions and the fees are all accurate.

How much does family mediation cost in the UK?

At Mediate UK a MIAM costs £115 plus VAT and joint sessions are £120 plus VAT per person per hour online. The average financial mediation costs £655 plus VAT per person, covering a MIAM and three 90-minute sessions. Child arrangements mediation usually costs less, and can be reduced by up to £500 with the family mediation voucher.

How long does family mediation take?

The cases on this page ran from three weeks to eleven months, and the eleven-month case was the one that went to court in the middle. Most families finish in six to fourteen weeks. Online MIAM appointments are usually available within 48 hours. By comparison, private law children cases in court took an average of 37 weeks to conclude in 2025.

Do I have to be in the same room as my ex?

No. Around 95% of our sessions happen online, so most clients are never in the same room. If you would rather not be on the same call either, shuttle mediation puts you in separate rooms or separate calls with the mediator moving between you, as in case study 5.

What happens if mediation does not work?

Around 90% of clients who attend joint mediation with us reach a full or partial agreement, and you can read how we measure that in our mediation outcomes report. If you cannot agree, nothing you said in mediation can be used against you. A barrister review is often the next step, as in case study 2, and it costs a fraction of a contested hearing. If you do go to court, your mediator can sign the court form confirming you attended a MIAM.

Is a mediation agreement legally binding?

Not on its own. The memorandum of understanding produced at the end of mediation records what you have agreed but does not bind you. To make a financial agreement binding you need a consent order approved by a judge, as in case studies 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8. For children, a parenting plan can be converted into a child arrangements order by consent, although many parents choose not to, as in case study 4.

Our legal partners

Mediation gets you to the agreement. Turning that agreement into something a court will enforce is legal work, and it is done by the solicitors and barristers on our panel, at the fixed fees quoted above. Their work is already inside the package prices on this page, so there is no separate solicitor bill at the end. You can read more about all of them on our our solicitors page.

Emma Kirkland

Family solicitor, DFA Law

Drafts consent orders, separation agreements and D81 statements of information, and deals with the court’s questions.

Case studies 1, 2, 7 and 8

Rhiannon Compton

Family solicitor, Family Legal Solicitors

Drafts consent orders, including pension sharing annexes on more complex financial settlements.

Case study 3

Charmian Jackson

Family law barrister, St Ives Chambers

Writes the independent barrister reviews, setting out what a court is likely to order on your case.

Case study 2

Rachel Adams, family solicitor at DFA Law, also works on our fixed fee packages. Every order on this page was drafted by a qualified family solicitor and approved by a judge. Mediators cannot give legal advice, which is exactly why the drafting is done by someone who can.

Mediate UK is a top-rated family mediation service with 715+ reviews rated 4.8/5 and 30 branches across 18 counties in England and Wales. Our mediators are members of the Family Mediation Council and we hold a Legal Aid Agency contract. Nothing on this page is legal advice or a quote for your case.