Questions people ask

A structured conversation between you and your ex-partner, with me in the middle keeping it fair and moving. I don't take sides and I don't decide anything — you two make the decisions. My job is to make it possible for you to make them.

In most cases, yes. Before the court accepts an application for a child arrangements or financial order it normally expects you to have attended a MIAM, unless an exemption applies — the most significant being where there has been domestic abuse. [CONFIRM wording against Lucy's FMC registration status.]

Usually within a week, often sooner, and there are evening slots. If you're up against a court deadline, say so when you get in touch and I'll prioritise it.

Neither. I work with married and unmarried couples, parents who were never together, and people whose separation was years ago but whose arrangements have stopped working.

No. Many people come to mediation before speaking to a solicitor at all — it's a cheaper way to find out where you stand. For financial cases you'll want legal advice at some point, and you'll need a solicitor at the end if you want a court order.

You can still have your own MIAM, and I'll write to your ex-partner inviting them to theirs. If they don't respond or decline, that can be recorded on the court form so your application can go ahead. Mediation is voluntary — nobody can be forced into it.

No, and neither can anyone else outside a court order. What mediation does is make agreements far more likely to stick, because both people built them rather than having them imposed. If you want enforceability, a solicitor can convert your agreement into a consent order.

Not necessarily. Shuttle mediation puts you in separate rooms with me moving between you, and online sessions can use separate virtual rooms. Plenty of cases resolve this way. Whether it's appropriate is something we'd assess at your MIAM.

A MIAM is £60 per person at the introductory rate. Joint sessions and documents are priced on the pricing page. Everything is per person — you each pay your own share.

A contested court case commonly runs into five figures per person and takes a year or more. A full mediation including written agreements is usually a few hundred pounds each and finishes in a couple of months.

Cases about children may qualify for the government's Family Mediation Voucher Scheme, worth up to £500. Legal aid for mediation also exists for those who qualify financially. [CONFIRM: whether Lucy is authorised for vouchers and whether she is a legal aid provider. If not a legal aid provider, this answer should say so and point people to the Family Mediation Council's directory.]

Tell me early. Sessions are booked one at a time, so you're never committed to a package, and we can space them out or prioritise the issues that matter most.

Yes, with limits. What's said in mediation is legally privileged and can't normally be used in court. There are two exceptions: where someone is at risk of serious harm — particularly a child — and where the law requires disclosure, such as suspected money laundering. Financial disclosure is deliberately open, so it can be used in a consent order.

Tell me at your MIAM — that meeting exists partly to ask this. Mediation depends on both people negotiating as equals, which isn't possible where one is frightened of the other. If it isn't safe I'll say so and help you find the right route, which may be a court application with a MIAM exemption.

Yes, minimal ones, and they're held securely. Details of what's kept, for how long and your rights over it are in the privacy notice.

Not on its own. Agreements are written up as a Memorandum of Understanding, which a solicitor turns into a consent order for a judge to approve. That final step is what makes it binding, and it's far cheaper than fighting the whole thing out.

Children-only cases typically take two to four joint sessions. Financial cases usually take three to five, because of the disclosure stage. Complex cases take longer, and I'll tell you honestly if I think yours will.

That's a good outcome, not a failed one. Narrowing the dispute to two issues instead of ten makes anything that follows shorter and cheaper.

Yes, and people do. Children get older, jobs change, someone wants to move. Returning for a session to adjust an arrangement is far quicker than starting again.

I've completed the training course and am building the supervised hours needed for full accreditation. My supervisor reviews every case. You get the same process and the same documents at half the price, and if you book now you keep the lower rate for your whole case.

No, and that's the point — I'm neutral. I can give you both legal information, but not legal advice to either of you. For advice you need your own solicitor.

Tell me first and I'll try to put it right. If that doesn't resolve it, there's a formal route set out in the complaints procedure, including escalation beyond me.