Financial Mediation
Financial mediation is family mediation about money. A qualified mediator sits with you and your ex-partner and helps you agree how to divide the house, the pensions, the savings, the debts and any ongoing payments, without handing the decision to a judge. Mediate UK has helped more than 23,000 people reach agreement, and 90% of clients who completed joint mediation with us in 2025 reached full or partial agreement. What you agree can then be written up as a legally binding consent order.
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Financial & Property Settlements
Financial mediation helps divorcing and separating couples agree how money, property, savings, debts and pensions are divided. Together you set out everything you both have, look at what each of you needs going forward, and agree a settlement that works for both households. Your agreement can then be made legally binding by a consent order.
The Family Home & Property
Mediation helps separating couples decide what happens to the family home, whether it is sold, kept, transferred or bought out. Together you look at the mortgage, the equity, who stays and for how long, and how any other property is treated. You reach a decision that works for the children and for both of your futures.
Pensions on Divorce
Pension mediation helps divorcing couples agree how pensions are shared, often the largest asset after the family home. Together you look at what each of you holds, whether a pension sharing order, offsetting or an expert report is needed, and what each of you would retire on. You make a fair, informed decision instead of an expensive guess.
Dividing a Business
Business mediation helps separating couples decide what happens to a company one or both of you built. Together you look at how the business is valued, whether it is sold, kept or bought out, and how income, property and pensions are balanced against it. You keep the detail private and the business trading, rather than handing the decision to a court.
Inherited & Pre-Marital Assets
Mediation helps couples work out how inheritances, gifts and assets brought into the relationship are treated on divorce. Together you look at what was kept separate, what was mixed into family life over the years, and what each of you needs now. You reach a split you can both live with, privately and without a court fight.
Spousal & Child Maintenance
Maintenance mediation helps separated parents and couples agree who pays what each month, and for how long. Together you look at both incomes and outgoings, what the children need, how the Child Maintenance Service formula fits in, and when spousal maintenance is appropriate. You leave with a figure you have both agreed, not one imposed on you.
Short-Term Financial Issues
Mediation helps separating couples sort out money now, before the full settlement is agreed. Together you decide who pays the mortgage, rent and bills, how joint accounts and cards are handled, and what each of you has to live on this month. It stops arrears and standoffs building up while the longer conversation carries on.
Financial mediation: common questions
Financial mediation is a process where a trained, impartial mediator helps separating or divorcing couples agree how to divide their money and property. The mediator does not take sides and does not decide the outcome. You both make the decisions, and the mediator makes sure the conversation is fair, informed and focused.
A mediation agreement is not legally binding on its own. At the end of mediation you receive a written summary of what you have agreed, called a memorandum of understanding. A solicitor turns that into a consent order and a judge approves it, which is the point it becomes binding. The court fee for a consent order is £62 as of July 2026.
Most financial cases are resolved in two to four joint sessions, held a few weeks apart, after each of you has had a MIAM. Sessions run for 90 minutes online. Cases with a business, several properties or complex pensions usually need longer, and your mediator will tell you what to expect at the MIAM.
No. 95% of Mediate UK sessions happen online, so you can join from separate homes and never see each other in person. If being in the same virtual room is not possible, we offer shuttle mediation, where the mediator moves between you and carries the offers back and forth. Shuttle sessions usually run to two hours rather than 90 minutes.
Financial mediation starts with full financial disclosure from both of you, covering income, property, pensions, savings and debts. A mediator cannot force disclosure, but nothing can be agreed without it, and a court will require the same information later. In practice, most people disclose because the alternative is a court process that costs them far more.
Legal aid for family mediation is means-tested. If you meet the financial criteria, your MIAM and your mediation sessions are free, and you can check your position with our legal aid checker. The government’s £500 family mediation voucher is separate and only applies where there is a dispute about the children, so a finance-only case does not qualify for it.
Ready to sort out arrangements for your finances?
Get started today and take the first step towards a less stressful, future-focused agreement. If you would rather talk it through first, the free 15-minute call is a no-pressure place to start.
Need something specific? Book an urgent MIAM, check your legal aid eligibility, or call us on 0330 999 0959.