Family disputes can be complex and messy, emotional and demanding. It is not uncommon for negotiations to reach an impasse or crunch-point where any chance of reaching an agreement seems impossible. When you reach this point family mediation can unlock the dispute. Our mediators will work with you and your legal team outside the court process to craft a solution that reflects your particular needs, enabling you to move on.

“Both crunch-point and hybrid mediation seek to take control of the situation before the court process does”  Director, David Allison

To find out more about mediation at FLiP contact our Mediation Co-ordinator, Wendy Hoare, here.

• Certainty and control – you and your partner are in control. Rather than the Court imposing a decision on you, the agreement you reach in mediation will be yours and yours alone. This is likely to lead to a longer lasting agreement with a better outcome for all concerned.
• Costs – Court proceedings are notoriously expensive and unpredictable. They are likely to make you worse off, financially and emotionally, than any deal hammered out in mediation.
• Support and advice – it is crucial that you are fully aware of your options to avoid making a decision you may come to regret.  In crunch-point and hybrid mediation you will be accompanied by your legal team who will support you through the process, preparing you for the discussions and exploring all the available options with you.

“Our goal in this service is to seize the day and work with you and your lawyers to successfully negotiate a comprehensive agreement and get it over the line”  Head of Mediation, Dominic Raeside 

To find out more about mediation at FLiP contact our Mediation Co-ordinator, Wendy Hoare, here.

We aim to settle the matters between you and your partner within a day. You will usually work with your legal team in a separate room from your former partner, with the mediator shuttling to and fro, exploring the strengths, risks and opportunities for reaching agreement. If there are safety issues, we will ensure you do not come into contact with your former partner.

The mediator will help you and your partner, with the guidance of your lawyers, to anticipate how decisions made now might impact in the future: considering how they might go well but also helping each person to recognise the strength of the other person’s case and the potential risk (if litigation continues) of that case being accepted by the court. The mediator will consider all the options and aim to generate a new space for solutions. They would hope to help you and your legal team pin down all the key issues, creating a comprehensive structure to reach a long lasting agreement.

“Knowing your rights and at least the bracket of what the court is likely to do is a vital ingredient in concluding a dispute. But where a conclusion is still not pinned down then, having proper space and time to honour the need to find an answer to the main issues may be what is most needed”  Director, James Pirrie

If at the end of the session there are still outstanding points, and if your lawyers recommend it, we can move easily and efficiently into family arbitration where a private-judge will adjudicate on any minor points that stand in the way of the overall agreement.

“So many people who have been through the court process seem to be beset by a sense that things would not be so bad ‘if only’. This service is likely to provide protection against that three- o’clock-in-the-morning horror that the difficulties in how things have worked out might all have been avoided” Mediator Ruth Smallacombe

To find out more about mediation at FLiP contact our Mediation Co-ordinator, Wendy Hoare, here.

Our Crunch-Point and Hybrid Mediators are:

• Dominic Raeside
• Ruth Smallacombe
• David Allison
• James Pirrie

To find out more about mediation at FLiP contact our Mediation Co-ordinator, Wendy Hoare, here.