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The court system is underfunded with the result that if you go to court you are likely to have a long wait until your child and/or financial arrangements are decided.

Whilst the chancellor’s recent spring budget disappointed lawyers by only providing limited extra finances for the family justice system, the chancellor said: ” Too many legal cases , pariculary in family law, should never go to court and it would cost us less if they didn’t. So we will spend £170 m to fund non -court resolution, reduce reoffending and digitise the court process”.

So if you would like to avoid court ( non-court resolution), speed up settlement of your family matters, save costs and obtain the free non means tested £500 voucher for mediation, you would benefit from giving a family mediator a call.

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The Ministry of Justice voucher scheme was due to end 31 March 2023 but has been extended to April 2025 at the same time the government issued a consultation paper (closing on 15 June 2023) on making mediation compulsory for separating couples in certain family cases but excluding those which include allegations or a history of domestic violence.

The consultation includes proposals to give courts power to order parents to make reasonable attempts to mediate and order fines “if they act unreasonably and harm a child’s well being by prolonging court proceedings”. There will also be powers to order parents to attend co-parenting classes.

“Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab MP said:
When parents drag out their separation through lengthy and combative courtroom battles it impacts on their children’s school work, mental health and quality of life. Our plans will divert thousands of time-consuming family disputes away from the courts – to protect children and ensure the most urgent cases involving domestic abuse survivors are heard by a court as quickly as possible.”

This initiative will build upon the existing family mediation voucher scheme introduced in 2021 to relieve the backlog in the courts due to the pandemic and years of underfunding.

The voucher scheme is accessed through accredited mediators.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plans-to-protect-children-under-new-mediation-reforms

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Following the introduction of No Fault Divorce  on 6 April 2022 ( under the Divorce Dissolution and Separation Act 2020) divorces can only be defended in very limited circumstances.

There is a minimum 26 week period from the issue of the Divorce papers until the marriage is officially terminated. This used to be on the decree absolute but is now called a final order.

This period is designed to give time to the parties to sort out their financial arrangements before they are divorced.

 

The rules on finances and property have not changed. To achieve legal finality on any agreement on finances the parties will need a court order. This can be granted by consent.

The point is that any orders made, even by consent, do not take effect until the final order. So couples might reach a financial agreement soon after the issue of the divorce papers but any court order, even by consent, cannot be made until a conditional order on the divorce has been granted ( minimum of 20 weeks from issue) and even then cannot take effect until a minimum of 26 weeks from the start of the divorce.

 

 

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On 16th January 2022 the Deputy Prime Minister Dominic announced £1.3 million additional funding for the scheme to increase the total fund to circa £3 Million.
The Family Mediation Council anticipate this will last until about the end of March 2022.

The voucher is non means tested and provides £500 towards the cost of mediation concerning child arrangements. It was introduced to help cut the court backlog due to Covid19, reduce family conflict and to encourage parents to sort their own child arrangements where safe to do so.

The government have said that the scheme has been a great success as “77 percent of cases reaching full or partial agreements away from the family courts”. The government have also explained that “further information about the scheme and how it works is provided to parties at their Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM), which all those involved in family cases are required to attend, unless they have a valid exemption. Mediation can be undertaken by other family members, not just separating parents”.

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Starting 21 March 2022, it will be illegal for anyone, including visitors, in Wales, to use any physical punishment including smacking, hitting, slapping and shaking of children. This will give children the same protection from assault as adults.

Parents will no longer be able to rely on the defence of reasonable chastisement in these circumstances.

The labour led Welsh Government has started a 6 month publicity campaign, including this video, to make the public aware of the change in the law and support services available to supplement the objective of protecting children from the harm of physical punishment.

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In late March 2021 the government introduced a non means tested £500 per family voucher for family mediation for separated families who need to make arrangements for children.

£1 Million was allocated to the scheme. I am pleased to hear that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has made a further £800,000 available for the scheme to help separated families.

Resolving arrangements outside court is usually quicker and cheaper than through the courts. Mediation often helps families retain control of their child arrangements in communicating better to make their own decisions affecting their children and themselves to the benefit of all concerned as well as helping relieving pressure on the courts.

The scheme is administered by the Family Mediation Council (FMC) on behalf of the MoJ. Applications for the voucher, which are very quickly processed by the FMC, are made by accredited mediators on behalf of the family after the parties have attended a MIAMS meeting ( Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting) with the accredited mediator. The cost of the MIAMS is not covered by the voucher but the first £500 of the subsequent mediation costs are funded by the voucher with any additional costs being met by the parties.

As long as there are child arrangements to be made the voucher will also cover the costs of discussing financial arrangements.

I am an FMC accredited mediator (URN 0818A) and have signed up to participate in the scheme. If you would like further information please contact me using the telephone number, contact form or email address on this website.

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The government announced on 26 March 2021 that it is investing £1m in family mediation, to support families .

Under the scheme, the Ministry of Justice will provide contributions of up to £500 per family, to resolve issues relating to children following parental separation. Mediation will be provided by Family Mediation Council Accredited (FMCA) mediators and the fund will reduce the costs of mediation for at least 2000 families.
John Taylor, Chair of the Family Mediation Council said ‘This government investment in mediation is much welcomed by the Family Mediation Council. It will help separated families agree solutions that are best for their children, taking into account what is going to be important for them as they grow up. Family mediation is a proven cost-effective way to resolve differences following separation. This voucher scheme will make it even more accessible, and will help families resolve issues for themselves, without having to go to court.’
Family mediation is a process in which an independent, professionally trained mediator helps parents work out arrangements for children and finances following separation. Mediation can also be helpful when previous child arrangements need to change, particularly as children grow up.

The Family Mediation Council is a not-for-profit organisation whose aim is to promote the use of family mediation for the benefit of the public. It does not offer mediation itself. Family Mediation Council Accredited mediators meet rigorous professional standards

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Before attending a joint mediation meeting you need to attend a Mediation Information Assessment Meeting, or ‘MIAM’ for short, to see if mediation could be used to resolve your difficulties and to avoid going to court. If you need to go to court you must first attend this meeting.

The MIAM is a confidential meeting between you and a mediator to look at your situation in more detail and to discuss the ways to find solutions to your problems.

The mediator will explain to you:

  • what your options might be.
  • what mediation is, and how it works.
  • the benefits of mediation and other appropriate forms of resolving disputes.
  • the likely costs of using mediation.
  • this is the Information part of the Meeting. The objective is to give you enough information to then make an assessment/informed decision about what option is best for you.
  • if you decide on mediation the mediator would then contact the other party to invite them to a similar meeting.
  •  if you both then wish to go ahead with mediation the first joint mediation meeting would be arranged.

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1. Have these handy; a pen, paper, a drink and tissues.

2. Have to hand any documents you have or will wish to share for mediation in case you need to refer to them.

3. Check the suitability of the space in which you will be sitting during the online mediation session and, in particular, think about what will be visible to the other party and if he/she might be sensitive to eg pictures of other people.

4.Test/ensure that your camera is on your face and light directed towards the face and not behind you and that you test your audio and video connection before joining the meeting.

5. Turn off or put to silent any devices like phones, tablets or computers, and disable alerts announcements or notifications of texts, emails, tweets or other social media activity; and close down any application other than the one providing the online video service.

6. Be clear how to join the meeting. The mediator should explain how to do this depending on the platform being used eg Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Face Time.

7. Dress appropriately for a serious meeting even though it takes place online.

8. It helps to arrive early and to be on time. You will then be in a more relaxed frame of mind.

9. If using Zoom, when you join the Meeting you will be in the Waiting Room. Wait until the mediator lets you into the Meeting Room. If there are any problems starting the meeting or a lost connection during the meeting it is helpful to have arranged beforehand with the mediator how to contact each other to discuss the problem.

10. If you need a break for any reason during the meeting ask the mediator.

11. If you are unexpectedly joined by another party during the mediation let the mediator know so you can discuss how to deal with the situation.

12. Do not talk over each other during the mediation. The mediator will ensure that every one has a chance to speak and be heard. Sometimes, depending on the connection, there can be a delay in transmitting when people speak. Mediating online can often be more tiring than face to face meetings.

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The government, in the name of the Department for Works and Pensions, has announced that from early 2018 it wants to take powers to enforce child maintenance arrears against joint accounts where the payer either does not have their own account or their own bank account doesn’t have enough money in it to pay the arrears. The powers will include both lump sum and regular payment orders.

These deduction order powers are to be subject to safeguards to avoid the power being used to take money not belonging to the paying parent. For example, the Department will obtain details of past bank statements which will be examined to work out from the history of the account what money belongs to the paying parent.

Account holders will have rights to make representations, rights to review, variation of decisions and will have appeal rights.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/654279/government-response-to-consultation-on-deduction-orders-against-joint-accounts.pdf