A Mediation Information Assessment Meeting is a meeting with a specially qualified family mediator, who will explain to you the alternatives to the court process. The purpose of the meeting is to give you an opportunity to find out whether going to court would really be the best way of dealing with the issues that you face following your relationship or marriage breakdown (e.g. children, property and financial issues), and in particular whether mediation could be an effective alternative.

At a MIAM you will meet with a specially qualified family mediator, and discuss your personal situation on a confidential basis. Usually this is a one to one meeting, although sometimes you can attend part of the meeting with your former partner if you both want to do so.

The mediator will provide information about options available to you to resolve the issues around your separation and will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each option. The mediator will also ask questions and make an assessment to decide whether or not mediation is a suitable way forward for you in your own particular circumstances.

Currently, many people who are separating or divorcing go to court to argue over issues they are better placed to sort out between themselves – such as getting 30 minutes extra contact time with their children or varying their allocated contact days – or spend months on a court application over their finances with uncertainty as to outcome and potentially very substantial costs involved. Litigation is expensive and can be emotionally draining for all concerned. Families usually know more about their own personal circumstances than any else does and the government is keen to encourage people to make their own arrangements wherever possible, rather than go to court.

There are several alternatives to the court process – such as mediation and collaborative family law – and the purpose of compulsory MIAMs is to enable separating couples to explore these and other options available to them.

Despite the recent legal aid cuts, for people who are eligible public funding (legal aid) is still available from certain mediation services. Depending on your capital and income, you may be entitled to legal aid mediation. A mediator from one of the services which offer legal aid will assess eligibility at the MIAM.

If you do not qualify for public funding, there is a fee to be paid unless your former partner attends and is eligible for legal aid, in which case legal aid will pay for a MIAM for both of you. It is important to ask about charges prior to your meeting as fees can vary. They may be a little higher in London and the South East.

Only specially qualified family mediators are allowed to conduct MIAMs – these are mediators who have qualified as Family Mediation Council accredited mediators, known as FMCA mediators. A family mediator who is allowed to conduct MIAMs is a family mediator who has the experience and the additional training to make sure that he or she can:

• help you to talk through all the different options
• provide information to enable you to make a decision about whether mediation is right for you
• assess whether or not you are going to be safe and comfortable in a mediation environment.

As things stand, only one of you is required to attend a MIAM to talk through the alternatives to court and decide whether another route could be appropriate for you, your family and your particular circumstances. However, the other person is expected to attend when invited to do so and the court has the power to tell the person who has refused to attend a MIAM that they must do so.

Only in certain very specific circumstances – such as where there is evidence of domestic violence or a risk of serious harm to children – can you ask the court to decide what should happen without first attending one of these meetings. If the financial arrangements are already agreed the court can be asked to turn that agreement into a ‘consent order’, and if that happens there is no need to attend a MIAM first. The court application form sets out all the possible exemptions that can apply in different situations.

You cannot issue an application at court without attending a MIAM unless a specific exemption applies in your case. The court will check to see if any exemption claimed is valid. If the court decides the exemption claimed is not valid, the court may require the applicant to attend a MIAM before it will deal with the application.

If for any reason either of you chooses not to try mediation (or one of the other alternatives to court), or if the mediator decides that mediation isn’t suitable for you, one of you can ask the court to get involved.

It is important to choose a family mediator you feel comfortable working with and who gives you confidence in the mediation process. Look for a mediator who has been professionally trained, who is properly supervised and who is a member of one of the Family Mediation Council member organisations.

All FMA full members are professionally trained, properly supervised, and part of one of the FMC member organisations. Not all FMA members are FMCA and therefore qualified to conduct MIAMs, so do check this with the mediator you choose, but all FMA members, whether they are lawyers, counsellors, therapists, social workers or from a financial background, are professional family mediators who are committed to very high standards and who abide by the Family Mediation Council’s Code of Practice.