MIAMs - the Frist Step in the Mediation Process
Divorce is a stressful process and the first step in resolving things between you and your ex-partner when you aren’t able to reach agreement between yourselves, is to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings, often referred to as a MIAM.
A MIAM is the first step in the Family Mediation process, it is a meeting with the mediator who will be working with you. If you are to going to take your case to court it is a legal requirement in most cases to have attended a MIAM. The other person named in the divorce is also expected to attend, but this won’t be the same meeting as you.
A MIAM must be conducted by a mediator who is accredited by the Family Mediation Council (FMC). All of our mediators have many years’ experience, and all have the necessary professional memberships and qualifications to sign the required forms for court should mediation not be suitable or breakdown.
What is the purpose of a MIAM?
The aim of the MIAM meeting is to see whether your family situation is suitable for mediation. The Mediator will ask you questions to try to understand about the situation that you are in, what your looking to resolve. They will tell you more about how Family Mediation might work in your circumstance, explore the possibility of you both mediating and tell you about the other options that may be able to resolve the problem you are facing, including going to Court.
Remember you must attend a MIAM if you are having problems any of the following:- child arrangements sometimes called custody or contact, separation and financial issues in preparation for divorce before attending court, save for exceptional circumstances.
We conduct most of our MIAM meetings online, typically by Zoom, although Whatsapp and Facetime are also available in some cases. There are still some options for face to face MIAMs where the need arises.
The initial meeting would normally last up to 1hr and in advance of the meeting the administration team will do a financial assessment to find out if you are your ex-partner are eligible for legal aid.
What does the MIAM cost?
Before the MIAM the admin team will speak to you to find out if you may be eligible for Legal Aid, they will undertake a financial assessment to work out if you are eligible to claim FREE Mediation. If you eligible or your ex-partner is eligible then this meeting will be FREE for you.
If you or your ex-partner are not eligible for free legal aid to cover the cost of the MIAM then the costs will be £115 (inc VAT). This may seem quite a lot when you’re trying to resolve financial issues and there’s not much money to go around, but these costs are many times less than what you could pay in legal fees to try and agree the issues. There is also a non means tested voucher scheme to assist with any further mediation costs available currently. The Mediator will speak to you about this in the MIAM.
We do have some mediators who are not yet fully qualified, although have over 6 months post training experience. They work under the supervision of an experienced family mediator. Please talk to us at your MIAM if you would like to know the fees for this.
What Happens after the MIAM?
Following the MIAM the mediator will contact your ex-partner (normally by telephone) and speak to them to invite them to attend a separate MIAM meeting.
Once the mediator has seen you both for a MIAM, assuming that you are both willing to attend mediation and that the mediator feels that it is a safe process for you both, then the admin team will be in touch with you to arrange a first joint mediation meeting, this will normally be together, although in some instances this may be with you both in separate rooms. This is explained more in more detail on our What is mediation? page.
Some of our Reviews
MIAM Meetings and Mediation in Kent
Our head office is located in Plymouth, but we have trained and qualified mediators working remotely for clients in Kent and surrounding areas. Most of our mediation is done online now, usually on Zoom. However, we do occasionally do face-to-face mediation when the need arises. We are regularly dealing with clients from Kent and surrounding areas including Bromley, Maidstone, Margate, Gravesend, Dartford and Ashford.
Over 90% of our mediation’s lead to an outcome that both people are positive about, which makes us one of the most successful mediation services in England. This means that both of you have found a settlement that you can both live with, which avoids the need for court intervention, which no one wants. All of our mediators are accredited with the Ministry of Justice to undertake Family Mediation in both financial and Children’s issues so you can be confident your in safe hands.
