Legal Aid for Family Mediation

We are able to offer Legal Aid for Family Mediation, depending on your circumstances.  If you would like to check whether you may qualify for Legal Aid there is a government calculator which indicates if you would qualify.  This is for you own information and not a final decision by the Legal Aid Agency.  Please call or email us for more information about Legal Aid and mediation.

IF YOU ARE BOTH ELIGIBLE FOR LEGAL AID THEN THE WHOLE MEDIATION PROCESS IS FREE OF CHARGE.

Paying for your Own Mediation

A couple will often need, on average, 4 mediation sessions with each session lasting 1 ½ hours.  With this example the cost of the sessions and the preparation of the relevant documentation would be £625.00 each.  This is considerably less than the cost of reaching an agreement through using your own solicitors which is typically likely to be £3,000.00 each and can be considerably more if disputes have to be resolved in Court.

Some Mediation providers advertise their fees on a per person basis and some do not. To enable you to make a proper comparison between our charges and those of other providers, we have set out our fees on various bases below –

Your first session will be a ‘Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting ‘ (known as a MIAM).  This normally costs £75 + VAT. 

If only one of you qualifies for Legal Aid the MIAM will be free to both parties, as will the first mediation session.

Thus, the total cost per person + VAT if four sessions are required* will usually be:

* On average a couple will need 3 to 5 sessions to resolve their issues but more or less may be needed depending upon the issues and degree of complexity. Cost Comparison If you each use your own Solicitor to reach an agreement it could typically cost a minimum of £3,000.00 each and considerably more if you end up having the dispute resolved in Court. Payments are by instalments made at the end of each session by cheque, card or cash – cheques to be made payment to MKB Solicitors LLP.