Divorce &
Financial Settlement
Mediate UK's financial and property mediation service helps separating couples divide their money, property, pensions and debts. Our mediators are members of the Family Mediation Council, and most couples agree within two to four sessions. You decide the outcome, quicker and less costly than court.
- Divide the home, pensions, savings, debts and maintenance fairly
- Most financial cases agreed in two to four joint sessions
- Ends in a legally binding consent order, approved by a judge
Contested financial proceedings take around a year and usually involve three separate court hearings. Contested proceedings can cost £30,000 plus VAT or more each, according to MoneyHelper, paid out of the very pot you are trying to divide. At the end of it, a judge who has never met your family applies the law and makes an order you both have to live with.
You are expected to try to settle first, too. Attending a MIAM is compulsory before most court applications, but now you also have to tell the judge on a Form FM5 what you have done to resolve matters away from court. Since April 2024, refusing to consider mediation, without good reason, can affect who pays the legal costs.
What mediation gives you instead of court
- Most cases settle in weeks, not more than a year
- You keep significantly more of the money you are dividing in the family pot
- 90% of couples who attend joint mediation reach agreement*
- Arrangements shaped around your situation, not a court order
- Fixed fee legal packages once you have agreed, to make your agreement legally binding
Why choose mediation for your financial settlement?
Confidential and without prejudice
Weeks or months, not years
A fraction of the cost of court
You keep control of the outcome
Accredited, insured and regulated
It can end with something legally binding
One fixed fee, all the way to a court order
What can you sort out in financial mediation?
Everything that forms part of your current assets and your financial future can be discussed in mediation, including:
- The family home: whether to sell, transfer it to one person, or defer the sale until the children finish school
- Other properties: buy-to-lets, holiday homes, and property owned abroad
- Pensions: including pension sharing orders, offsetting and the value of each scheme
- Savings, investments and ISAs: what happens to your savings and investments
- Business interests: shareholdings, partnerships and sole trader income
- Debts: mortgages, loans, credit cards and tax liabilities
- Spousal maintenance: if needed, how much, for how long, and on what terms it ends
- Child maintenance: how much, and whether it is a private arrangement or goes through the Child Maintenance Service
- Inherited and pre-marital assets: what should be treated as marital assets and what should not
- Contents, vehicles and personal items: what happens to your chattels and personal items
How does the Mediation Process Work?
Your MIAM
Financial disclosure
Joint sessions
Your written outcome
Make it legally binding
Start reaching your financial settlement today
Book your MIAM online in a few minutes, at a time that suits you. If mediation is suitable, we will invite the other party afterwards.
Do we have to be in the same room?
No. 95% of our mediation sessions happen online, and where being in the same space would be too difficult, we use shuttle mediation, where you stay in separate rooms and the mediator moves between you.
You join from home by video, so there is no travel, no waiting room, and no chance of arriving awkwardly at the same time. Shuttle mediation goes further. You are in separate rooms, or on separate calls, and your mediator carries the questions, offers and replies between you. The hourly rate is the same, though a shuttle session usually runs to two hours rather than 90 minutes, because everything has to be relayed twice.
That is why we suggest a joint session first where it is safe and comfortable to do so, as it is usually quicker and costs less. Your mediator will talk this through with you at your MIAM, and you decide together which format suits you, so nothing is arranged without your agreement.
How much does financial mediation cost?
Free
We are a Legal Aid Agency contracted provider, so we can check and process this for you.
If you are eligible, the other party has their MIAM and first joint session covered under legal aid as well.
from £1,649 +VAT
It covers your MIAM, up to 4 hours of joint mediation, your financial statement, your memorandum of understanding, solicitor drafting of the consent order and the solicitor dealing with the court on your behalf.
You know the full cost before you start, whatever your case turns out to need.
£120 +VAT
The average cost of financial mediation is £655 plus VAT, covering three 90-minute sessions and your MIAM.
Legal paperwork is charged at an additional fee.
All members of the Family Mediation Council
What clients say about working with us
“Had a 15 minutes free call about financial settlement mediation and lady was great at explaining the process and answering all the questions I had.”
“….a very informative and friendly conversation with Mediate UK, which left me feeling much more confident about the next steps I needed to take with regards to the financial settlement of my divorce. There was no pressure to uptake their services, and the advice given to me was excellent, and was tailor made to suit my circumstances.”
“Just had a free consultation as I wanted to understand my options for reaching a financial settlement with mediation as supposed to just independently agreeing something or using solicitors. They were was reassuring, and explained several options, so I feel more confident now of a fair outcome for all parties.”
Financial settlement mediation: common questions
Everything starts with full disclosure, so you can both see the whole picture before any decisions are made. From there, depending on the length of the relationship, equal sharing of assets is the starting point, but it is not a hard rule. A court applies the factors in section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, and your mediator works to the same framework.
The welfare of any child under 18 comes first, followed by what each of you earns and could earn, your housing needs, the length of the marriage, your ages and health, and what each of you contributed, including as a homemaker. In practice, the priority is housing both of you and the children, which may move the split away from 50/50. In mediation you can test different splits against real mortgage figures, and against your future needs, rather than just argue blindly over a percentage split.
Not on its own. A mediated agreement becomes legally binding when it is drafted into a consent order and approved by a judge. Until then it is a record of what you have agreed, not a court order. Mediate UK can arrange the drafting and the court application for you.
Yes. Full and frank financial disclosure is a requirement of mediation and of the court. Both of you provide bank statements, payslips, property valuations, mortgage statements and pension valuations. Disclosure is open, which means it can be shown to a solicitor or a judge later. A settlement built on incomplete disclosure can be set aside by a court.
The family home is the most common sticking point, and it rarely has only two outcomes. Options include selling and splitting the proceeds, one person buying the other out, transferring the property with a charge back that pays out later, or deferring the sale until the youngest child finishes school. Your mediator will work through each option with your mortgage capacity and housing needs in mind.
Most financial cases finish within six to twelve weeks. That covers two MIAMs, disclosure and two to four joint sessions. Cases involving a business valuation or a pension actuary report take longer, because you are waiting on a third party.
Mediation is voluntary, so nobody can be forced to attend. If your ex-partner declines or does not respond, your mediator will sign a MIAM certificate confirming you have attended, and you can then apply to court. Since April 2024, the court can take a party’s unreasonable refusal to consider mediation into account when deciding who pays the costs.
You do not have to have one, but independent legal advice is a good idea before you sign anything. Your mediator is neutral and cannot advise either of you. Many clients mediate first, then take their memorandum of understanding to a solicitor for a single advice appointment. You will also need a solicitor, or a fixed-fee service like ours, to draft the consent order.
Yes. Unmarried couples cannot apply for a financial remedy on separation, but there is still plenty to resolve: jointly owned property, shared debts, child maintenance and contributions towards a child’s costs. Mediation is often more useful for unmarried couples, because the court route is narrower. We can help with producing a deed of separation on the agreement reached, which you can sign and witness.
Disclosure in mediation is open, and it has to be backed by documents rather than figures on a form. That means bank statements, payslips, mortgage statements, company accounts and pension valuations. You can ask any questions on each other’s disclosure. If the information still does not come, mediation can stop and you can apply to court, which has powers to compel disclosure. It is also worth knowing that a financial order obtained through dishonest disclosure can be set aside by a court years later, so hiding assets rarely holds. Either party can request disclosure on a Form E, where you both sign a statement of truth.
Yes. In England and Wales, your divorce ends the marriage but it does not end your financial claims against each other. Those claims stay open until a judge approves a financial order that formally dismisses them, and there is no time limit for bringing one. In Wyatt v Vince, an ex-wife applied around 20 years later and the Supreme Court allowed her claim to proceed.
If you remarry you will have a reduced claim on the assets and spousal maintenance. It is worth taking good legal advice if this is your situation.
Ready to sort out your financial settlement?
Most couples have their finances agreed within a few months, for a fraction of what court would cost. Book your MIAM to get started, or take a free 15-minute call first if you would rather talk it through.
Need something specific? Book an urgent MIAM, check your legal aid eligibility, or call us on 0330 999 0959.
Related financial mediation services
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.
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.