Mediation Finance

How We Can Help with Mediation (Finance)

We can help you reach agreement about property and finances through financial mediation.  

Whether you are married, in a civil partnership or unmarried cohabiters, when you separate there are likely to be several financial matters that will have to be sorted before you can move on.

The first step to successfully mediating financial issues is to establish a complete and accurate picture of the whole situation.  In divorce, the law requires that any financial settlement is based on a full and frank disclosure of all relevant financial information.  For unmarried couples it may also be worth adopting a similar approach as the foundation of any settlement.

Financial disclosure requires you to list all assets, liabilities, income and expenditure.  We have forms available to help with this process.  You need to establish an approximate date to which the financial information relates.

The purpose of financial disclosure is to make sure you have all the knowledge and information you require about each other’s financial circumstances to make informed decisions.  This is usually written up in a clear statement supported by the documents clients have exchanged called an Open Financial Statement. 

Our mediators understand the law relating to family finances so can assist you in exploring all the options available to you to assist you to making an informed decision.

Whilst our mediators will assist you to obtain information, they cannot advise either party.  If you require advice, you will obtain this from an independent solicitor and usually, you will take the Open Financial Statement and the supporting documents with you, and explain any ideas, you or the other party may have about how things should be settled.  

Many solicitors now offer a fixed fee interview so that you know what you are going to pay in advance of the meeting.

Is The Agreement Through Financial Mediation Legally Binding?

Negotiations are usually “without prejudice” whether they are via solicitors or in mediation until a final settlement is reached. Clients need to put forward ideas, compromise and negotiate to try and reach a settlement that is acceptable to both parties, so they keep costs to a minimum.

If clients reach a settlement in mediation it will usually be written up in a Memorandum of Understanding.

which may also set out what clients have agreed regarding the children. Clients are then free to take this document to their respective solicitors and discuss what areas can be put into a Court Order.

Open Financial Statement

An Open Financial Statement is a document we produce once we have financial disclosure from both of you.  An Open Financial Statement is a schedule of financial information, as the information is obtained.  

Once we have all the figures, and they have been documented, discussed and agreed, we put the information in a schedule, which is called an Open Financial Statement, supported by the relevant documentation.  

This is a document you can take to your solicitor who can advise you about the fairness of any agreement you have reached at mediation.  

The benefit of going through financial disclosure at mediation and agreeing the contents of an Open Financial Statement, as opposed to going through the process via a solicitor or court, is that the process will cost significantly less through the mediation process rather than going through solicitors or courts and could in the majority of cases save you thousands in legal costs.  The other main advantage of agreeing the contents of an Open Financial Statement through mediation as opposed to going through solicitors or courts is during meditation, the process can be completed in a very short space of time, saving you a considerable amount of time and delays through the court process.  

Unlike all the other documents which we prepare in mediation, the Open Financial Statement is not confidential or ‘without prejudice.’  It is, essentially a statement of evidence which you will both need to sign off as honest and accurate.  It may be produced in court, or to a solicitor or legal representative as evidence that a full and frank disclosure of all relevant financial information has been properly undertaken in your case.  As mediators we can only record the information you provide for us, we cannot verify it or confirm its accuracy.  We therefore ask you both to sign the open financial statement; your signatures guarantee its authenticity.