• Phone: 0330 999 0959 | Email: admin@mediateuk.co.uk

    Facilitation Packages

    What is a Facilitation Package?

    Available where one party has ties to England & Wales – a Facilitation Package is suitable for couples who have an agreement in principle that they want to have sense-checked by a neutral third party – without having to instruct separate solicitors.

    It is a popular method used to get a clean break consent order or a separation agreement. It allows you both to deal with just one independent expert, rather than having to approach separate solicitors. We help with costs by setting a fixed fee for all the work in advance and we ensure your consent order is drafted and managed by an experienced solicitor.

    Facilitation does not replace the legal requirements of a MIAM and it may be helpful to have legal advice prior to the meeting. Facilitation is not regulated like family mediation but once you have an agreement, a fully SRA regulated and experienced family solicitor takes on the drafting of your legal document and deals with the court for you. It can help to streamline cases where you are at or close to an agreement on the financial or parenting issues. Providing you have all relevant documents and have reached an agreement acceptable to a court, you can get your full settlement finalised in just 90-minutes. And your solicitor drafted consent order in a couple of weeks.

    Highlights

    • Clean break consent order or separation agreement
    • Deal with one person to sense check your agreement
    • Experienced solicitor drafts your legal paperwork and communicates with court
    • Set fee where our process is followed – helping you to budget in advance
    • Amicable – less friction, less cost, less time

    When Should I Consider Facilitation?

    Can you answer Yes to most of the following questions? Then the facilitation package may be right for you:

    • We have an agreement in principle that we are both happy with
    • We want an independent expert to sense check and finalise our agreement
    • We want to check we have covered everything the court will want us to have considered
    • We want to show the court we have used an independent expert to process our order, so it is more likely to be accepted
    • We want our agreement drafted into a working document and financial statement for court
    • We want a family law solicitor to draft our agreement into a legally binding one
    • We want a solicitor to deal with the court on our behalf
    • We don’t want a solicitor to undo our agreement or cause extra expense or friction
    • We want a solicitor to deal with all communication with the court
    • We want a fixed fee cost so we know the full costs upfront

    How does Facilitation work?

    If both of you are happy to proceed with the facilitation package, we book you in for a 90-minute meeting with one of our divorce experts.

    Prior to the meeting we ask you to complete your financial disclosure and a client information form, providing your details, your financial agreement and any parenting arrangements you may have. We provide a checklist showing what you MUST have before you hold that 90-minute meeting.

    Your facilitator will prepare a plan for the meeting and go through your disclosure, the division of assets, any ongoing payments between you, who will divorce and your parenting arrangements if necessary.

    At the end of 90-minutes you will have your divorce or separation fully agreed and we will then draft a memorandum of understanding and a financial statement. We can draft a parenting plan where required. Once you are happy, we instruct one solicitor to process the divorce, consent order or separation agreement for you both. For divorce packages, you will have a separate solicitor each to manage the divorce to final divorce order, as we find this the best way to progress your divorce quickly.

    Mediation or Facilitation?

    If you still have financial or parenting issues to be resolved, then family mediation is probably the better route for you.

    Facilitation streamlines the process, ensures the agreement you have reached is viable, would be acceptable to the courts and we check you have considered everything the court will want you to have considered.

    If the process does break down – you would still have to attend a MIAM in order to go to court and we can arrange this for you. However, 98% of clients who take out a facilitation package continue with the process and finalise their agreements through us.

    Facilitated Consent Order – Explainer Video

    Next Steps

    For most facilitation cases we would speak to you prior to booking your appointment in order to ensure it is the right service for you. The best way to do this is to book a free 15-minute consultation, which you can do here

    Facilitation Packages

    Divorce Package
    Consent Package
    Separation Package
    Child Arrangements Package
    Finances Finances Finances Parenting
    Cost per Person £1,399 £849 £699 £699
    Full financial disclosure
    Initial 90 minute Meeting
    Deal With Same Expert to Reach Agreement
    Memorandum of Understanding
    Parenting Plan
    Open Financial Statement
    Solicitor Managed Divorce – Petitioner
    Solicitor Managed Divorce – Respondent
    Solicitor drafted Consent Order
    Solicitor drafted Separation agreement
    Solicitor completed Form A
    Solicitor completed D81
    Consent order Submitted to court
    Solicitor Manages All Correspondence With Court
    Attendance At Court Required
    HMCTS Court Fees Child Arrangements – £116pp
    HMCTS Court Fees Divorce – £296.50pp
    HMCTS Court Fees Consent order – £26.50pp
    Total Per Person inc Court Fees £1,722 £875.50 £699 £815

    Your Facilitators

    Chris Yaffes

    Chris is a non-practising family solicitor and accredited family mediator.

    Originally from South Africa, Chris has practised both family and criminal law, before studying for a masters in international relations in New York.

    Chris has a clear focus to helping clients reach an agreement, which is perfect for facilitation meetings. Chris is a member of Resolution and based in London.

    Emma Ingham

    Emma was a family law solicitor in her native Cardiff for 10 years, before she moved to Berkshire where she started a family. Emma is also a family mediator for Mediate UK and her calm and professional manner is perfect for helping clients through facilitation.

    Emma’s family law background and experience of helping clients going through a divorce is perfect for clients wishing to finalise their financial or parenting consent order.

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    Contact us to find out more about why mediation can help your case. 0330 999 0959 or email admin@mediateuk.co.uk.