Support Team Services
"Supporting you to separate together"
Our award winning family separation support services
Our family mediation support team of experts provide you with the additional support you need, when you need it, at a price you can afford, working in and around the mediation process, helping you to find the best solutions for you and your family.
Your mediator will help you to select and work with the right family expert, at the right time, in a solution focused, cost-effective way (‘Mediation Teaming’) during each of the following 6 stages of mediation.
- Pre-mediation preparation
- Gathering and understanding information and documentation
- Exploring options
- Creating solutions
- Implementing successful outcomes
- Beyond mediation
Financial
- Solicitors and Lawyer Neutrals
- Financial coach
- Future Lifestyle Budgeting expert
- Financial adviser
- Accountant
- Child Support
- Pension expert
- Property (Buildings and land)
- Mortgage experts
- Employment experts
- Wills and Trust experts
- Conveyancing experts
Parents and children
- Parenting experts
- Children experts
- Direct Child Consultants
Relationship/Communication
- Relationship experts
- Conflict management communication experts
Simply look for the support service you need and speak to your mediator about the most suitable expert to use from our team, in your situation and how to work with them, in the most efficient and cost effective way (‘Mediation Teaming’) .
Legal
About your Solicitor/Barrister.
Your solicitor is part of your mediation support team
Their advice and support and the way in which they provide it at each stage of the mediation process (stages 2-5) can be essential to the success of the mediation process.
- Help you gather the correct financial information and verify its accuracy where necessary (this role can be carried out or shared with the financial experts such as the accountant or financial coach)
- Help you to understand the financial information.
- Help you prepare to identify your financial priorities and prepare to explore your financial options in mediation
- Prepare you to articulate your priorities and views in mediation, if you feel that this is not happening in mediation (Also see role of coach).
- Help you to resist a adopting positional mindset and approach (Also see role of coach)
- Help you to shift your focus from ‘rights and entitlements’ to values, needs and interests (principled and interest-based discussions)
- Ensure that discussions take place within the ‘shadow of the law’ providing clarity about the legal principles, informing you about the law and the role the law has to play in the process (See ‘providing advice’ below).
- Provide information about specialist areas such as the Child Maintenance Service
- Help you develop a broader perspective in approach (Also see role of coach)
- Help you to work with other experts (including preparation of expert instructions although, in some situations, this can also be done with the help of the mediator, if the mediator is also a solicitor).
- Preparing financial consent orders that make sense to you and the Judge and reflect your financial mediated outcome
Providing legal information/advice/opinion- OPTIONS
1. Advice and support can take many different forms although the preferred approach is that solicitors/barrister representing two mediating clients discuss between themselves the law that applies and how to explain this to the clients in a way that furthers the ‘team principles’ of work together in mediation to find solutions.
2.Another option is for the solicitor’s/barrister’s to discuss their views together in the mediation session about the law and how it applies to the situation, in a clear open way (remembering that all conversations are confidential in mediation).
3.Another option is for solicitors/barristers to give their advice in private sessions with their clients during the mediation process.
In any event, it is critical that the solicitors discuss and agree how they will handle their obligation to give legal advice in furtherance of the mediation team principles, ensuring that the information they provide about about legal principles applying in your situation does not differ even if their advice about how they might be applied by the court in your situation differs.
4.Another option, if you become ‘stuck’ in mediation, might include asking one barrister/solicitor (‘neutral’) to provide you and your former partner with an opinion/evaluation about how the court might apply the legal principles in your situation, assisting you both to reach a financial agreement for yourselves in mediation, based on their ‘neutral opinion’, rather than allow matters to become polarised.
5.In appropriate situations, with your agreement, your mediator might recommend and refer you both to arbitration where an Arbitrator decides the outcome for you both.
Financial
Coach
About the Financial Coach
Financial coaches can support you and your former partner individually or help you in a ‘neutral capacity’ to communicate and work together.
They can support you and your former partner in the following ways, as you seek to find solutions in mediation.
- Prepare your financial paperwork for disclosure in mediation including your Form E (Mediation Financial Disclosure Booklet)
- Gather the correct financial information and evidence including support with the preparation of detailed and accurate monthly expenditure schedules (for use to create cash flow models)
- Understand the financial information and documentation you receive from your former partner
- Ask the right questions about the financial information
- Prepare to explore and reality test (implications) your financial options in mediation
- Manage financial expectations and maintain a mentally agile and flexible approach and confidence
- Instruct and work with other experts like the pension expert or accountant
Financial Adviser/ Planner
About the Financial Adviser/Planner
They generally work with you on an individual basis although some can work with you and your former partner in a neutral capacity, when necessary.
They can support you and your former partner in the following ways, as you seek to find solutions in mediation.
- Prepare a realistic financial budget forecast so that you can calculate whether you will need financial support from your former partner and, if so, how much and discuss this with them in mediation
- Prepare an income and long-term cash flow analysis
- Decide how to invest your share of the financial settlement
- Prepare a pension report, if qualified for this purpose
- Work with you, your former partner and the mediator in mediation to explain financial information including the pension report and assist with exploring financial options, including pension options and implications.
- Decide how to invest any pension share you receive as part of your divorce settlement (including implementation of a pension sharing order and how to invest your pension credit)
- Decide how to invest your share of the divorce settlement to maximise return on investment
- Decide how best to manage liabilities
- Help you to explore retirement and insurance issues
Accountant
About the Accountant
The accountant generally works with you on an individual basis, although some work with you and your former partner in a neutral capacity, when necessary.
- Prepare your financial disclosure forms and in particular the parts relating to business interests
- Understand the more complicated financial disclosure documents you need to disclose, or you receive from your former partner especially, where these relate to business interests.
- Decide whether a valuation of business interests is required and, if so, what kind of valuation might be necessary in your situation, to enable you to explore a range of options and achieve a fair financial outcome
- Prepare a letter of instructions for a valuation of business interests.
- Prepare valuation reports in respect of business interest
- Understand valuation reports and other financial information, ensuring that you are both able to work in mediation on an equally knowledgeable footing.
- Prepare to explore a range of financial options and their financial implications so that you feel ready and able to explore these in mediation (with or without the accountant also present in mediation)
- Calculate tax implications in respect of financial options being explored
- Assist with Company share transfers and the tax implications
- Assist with questions regarding the liquidity of business interests
- Prepare accounts and annual tax returns
Pension
experts
About the Pension expert
Pension experts come in two main types, financial advisers trained and qualified to prepare pension reports and Actuaries.
They generally work as a ‘neutral expert’, supporting you and your former partner in the following ways:
- Helping you to gather the correct pension information
- Helping to you to instruct them to prepare a pension report depending on the pension options you wish to explore in mediation (pension sharing/pension offsetting)
- Preparing a pension report
- Explaining the pension report (to you individually or together in mediation)
- Helping you and your former partner work together in mediation to explore and reality test your pension options with the mediator
Property
Experts
About the Property expert
They can help you and your former partner work together to obtain a joint valuation of property interests and even locate suitable properties to buy with your settlement monies.
Mediation generally encourages that they work for you and your former partner in a neutral capacity, in the following ways.
- Gather the correct information and documentation starting with an accurate description of the precise property (and land) to be valued.
- Prepare some clear instructions for valuation
- Identify issues which might affect the value such as property encumbrances on the Title Deeds or local planning restrictions.
- Carry out an appropriate valuation of the property interest whether this is residential or business property such as a rental property or commercial premises, forming part of the business valuation being prepared by the accountant, for example.
- Liaise with the accountant carrying out the business valuation where the business includes commercial property (and land)
- Work with you and your former partner in mediation to explain the valuation report and answer questions so that you can include this information when you explore your options (stage 3)
- As buying agents and property experts, preparing a report about the costs of re-housing you in a ‘suitable’ property (within the context of the capital available) and representing you to, among other things, secure the best price for the property which you wish to purchase.
Mortgage
broker
About the Mortgage Broker (Borrowing capacities)
Independent mortgage brokers/experts (Not tied to any particular lender) can support you and your former partner individually or help you both to work together, when necessary, in a ‘neutral capacity’:
- Explore the mortgage market, providing you with a report about how much you might be able to borrow and on what terms so that you can feed this information into your financial and housing options and discuss these together, in mediation.
- Arrange borrowing for you whether you need to buy out your former partner’s interest in a property or buy a new property
- Refinancing an existing residential or business property mortgage/loan arrangement to ensure that you are receiving the most competitive terms.
- Arrange mortgage protection in the event of death or unemployment, for example
Employment
experts
About the Employment expert (Earning capacities)
Employment experts are experts in the employment market, providing you with a report about, among other things, how much you might be able to earn, given your particular circumstances (qualification, skills, experience), the opportunities available in the job market and how long it might take you to develop a particular earning capacity.
Wills
&
Trusts
About the Wills and Trust experts
These experts can be Solicitors or Licensed Wills/Trust/Probate experts. They can help in the following ways:
- Prepare Wills for you especially if you do not have one or to prepare a new Will for you, post-divorce
- Set up Trust arrangements and advise
- Set up Powers of Attorney
- Advise in respect of inheritance tax matters and succession planning
Conveyancing
About the Conveyancing expert
These experts can be Solicitors or Licensed conveyancers and help with transferring or selling a property resulting from separation and divorce.
- Implement the part of your mediated agreement which relates to transferring or selling property
- If the property is in your joint names they can act for you both but will usually need to see evidence of the financial agreement you have reached in mediation and confirmed by your solicitor, if you have one.
- If a property is in one of your names and is being sold or transferred they are likely to want to see evidence of an agreement reached in mediation and confirmed by your solicitor, if you have one.
- Create property Trust documentation where for example you and your former partner decide to divide the ownership of property between you in unequal shares and need these interests protected for the future.
- Liaise with your solicitor supporting you to ensure that your mediated agreement is correctly implemented
Parents
support
About the Parenting expert
They can support you and your former partner individually or together, before, during and in between mediation sessions, to communicate and develop a parenting plan that works for both parents and the children.
Have a look at the co-parenting chapter of the Divorce Manual.
These experts come from a range of coaching and therapeutic backgrounds.
- Acting as your guide to the relevant communication and parenting chapters of the Divorce Manual and other important resources, helping you to make the most of these.
- Signposting you to the most appropriate Parenting and communication programmes and tools (provided by various agencies) to meet your specific needs and the challenges of your situation.
- Helping you and your former partner, working with you individually and together, to maximise on lessons learned from any Parenting programme(s) you have (both) attended, information you have been signposted to and any tools you are using, to improve communication and construct a successful Parenting plan.
- Continue to work with you and your former partner, if and when required, to ensure that your parenting plan continues to work well for you both and the children, as it develops and adapts to the situation, helping you both to navigate the challenges and avoid the need to revert to the legal system and courts
- Providing specialist information and support such as where, for example there is ‘child rejection of parent’ behaviours ie Parental alienation.
- Their role may well overlap to a large degree with the role of the Relationship expert (see relationship support team)
Children
support
About the Child expert
Our children experts support you and your former partner to work in a ‘child centred’ and ‘child inclusive’ ways.
These experts come from a range of coaching and therapeutic backgrounds.
Have a look at the Voice of the child chapter of the Divorce Manual
- Meet with parents and child(ren) to assess the levels of a child’s functioning and adjustment to separation and divorce
- Explain to parents what is meant by ‘child centred’ and ‘child inclusive’ practice and how they differ.
- Explain to parents what is involved in child inclusive mediation practice and process compared with a child centred mediation practice and process
- Where appropriate consents have been obtained and checks carried out, facilitate and enable children to ‘have a voice’ in the mediation process and development of the parenting plan, should they wish to, in a safe and supported way- ‘Child inclusive’ practice (See Divorce chapter: Voice of the child-Child inclusive practice and process).
- Ensure that you child has a safe, private place in which to ask questions, share feelings, express needs and address problems related to the divorce
- Assist children to express thoughts, feelings, concerns in various ways and decide whether they would like their parents to hear these
- Advocate for the child’s needs, should they want this, by providing direct information on the child’s eye view to the parents and mediation team as a foundation on which child centred communication between the parents and the parenting plan is developed in mediation- ‘Child centred’ practice
- Does not make recommendations
- Does not participate directly in the development of the parenting plan. This is the mediator’s role working with both parents.
- Does not serve as the therapist before, during or after the mediation process
- Does not switch from child therapist to child expert and visa versa
Note: Sometimes the child expert can take on a wider role, in addition to the roles above, where they may work with the parents outside the mediation process to develop the parenting plan and better communicate, rather than in the mediation process (see Parent expert role).
Relationship
&
Comms
support
About the Relationship and Communication expert
These experts may be Coaches, Therapists and/or Counsellors
They can support separating couples to, among other things, communicate in a way that enables them to make joint decisions and reach successful outcomes in mediation which are balanced and fair to them both, in their situation.
- Help you and your former partner with Pre-divorce discussions, supporting you (and your partner) to decide whether to separate or not and, if so, how to manage the psychological and emotional aspects relating to the ending of the relationship which might involve addressing mental health, attachment, trauma and neurodiversity issues.
- To present your ‘best selves’ in the relationship and mediation when working together with the mediator to reach joint decisions.
- Assist you to identify, clarify, prioritise and articulate needs and interests for yourself and your family.
- Help to raise your awareness and insight about the part yours and your partners’ beliefs and narratives may be playing in any conflict
- Assist you with developing insights into the causes of any conflict
- Helping and supporting you with strategies and skills to improve your conflict management capacity (conflict competence).
- Work with you to reduce stress, manage difficult emotions and boost your confidence levels
- Help each of you to develop effective communication skills and, when there are children, effective co-parenting skills
- Support you to manage different degrees of acceptance/feelings about the separation (and divorce)
- Assist you and your former partner to develop a shared narrative about the future
- Help you to work collaboratively with the mediator and other experts, anticipating challenges and resolving them when they arise
- Work with the mediator to help them understand your emotional challenges including hotspots, fears, concerns, problem relational dynamics
- Assist you to stay present, solution and outcome focused in your thinking
- Work with you to facilitate options generation where necessary prior to mediation sessions especially where this relates to Parenting plans
Find out about our Divorce Manual
All the online divorce resources you will need for your separation and divorce.