Mediation Information Assessment Meeting

Here at Northern Family Law Support we don’t offer mediation but court rules require that before making most applications under the Children Act 1989 and most applications under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, the Applicant must attend a Mediation Information Assessment Meeting, known as a MIAM, to consider with a mediator whether the dispute may be capable of being resolved by a method other than the court process. The assessment meeting normally lasts 45 minutes.

Mediation is a confidential process and none of the parties to mediation may provide information to the court as to the content of any discussions held in mediation and/or the reasons why an agreement was not reached.

The rules state that the court will expect the Respondent to attend the MIAM, but it is not compulsory for them to do so. If the Respondent declines to attend a MIAM you will not be prevented from subsequently issuing proceedings.

We cannot conduct mediation for you but we can help you find a mediator to conduct a MIAM.

There are 15 exemptions categories for which court does not expect an Applicant to attend a MIAM.

1)  Domestic Abuse If you have been the victim of Domestic Abuse you do not have to attend family mediation. You will need to provide evidence of the abuse to the court when you submit your application. You will need to show that the other party was arrested for a domestic violence offence or show details of any criminal proceedings. If you do not have this, then you will need to provide written evidence from a medical practitioner, domestic abuse organisation, or other professional body to show that Domestic Abuse has taken place.

2)  Either of you live abroad If you or the Respondent habitually live outside of England or Wales you do not need to attend a MIAM. This would make physical attendance at a MIAM difficult, so the court would not expect you to attend mediation. However, with the advent of Online Mediation, this may change in the future.

3)  You do not know where the other party lives If you do not know where they live and have taken reasonable steps to find out, it will not be possible to invite them to mediation, so you do not need to attend a MIAM.

4)  You have attended a MIAM before If you have already attended a MIAM within the last 4 months, you do not need to attend a new one. The MIAM certificate needs to be dated within 4 months, so you would need to attend a new MIAM meeting if you intend to make an application more than 4 months after the date of your MIAM.

5)  You have a linked case already going through court If there is already an ongoing case at court and you are submitting a new or supplementary application, you do not need to attend a new MIAM appointment. You should provide details of the case to the court. But note that proceedings need to be ongoing and not closed; so previous court appearances that have concluded do not count, even if it is regarding the same individuals.

6)  You need an urgent hearing Urgency here will be decided by the court. Most matters involving children are urgent, especially to their parents, but urgency would usually involve a risk of life or serious harm to the child or if the child is about to be unlawfully removed from the country.

7)  Child Protection Concerns If you are submitting a C100 form and the child concerned is subject to a child protection plan, or the local authority are making enquiries into the safety of the child – for example if they have been taken into police protection, then you do not need to attend a MIAM prior to submission of the C100 Children Act application.

8)  If the hearing in being made without notice to the other party This again would usually revolve around the safety of the people involved. A court will normally see if an exemption to attend a MIAM applies under Section 5.1 of Practice Direction 18A of the Family Procedure Rules.

9)  You have a disability that cannot be accommodated If you have a disability that means you are unable to get to a family mediator within 15 miles of your home, then as long as you have tried them all, or at least three if there are several mediators, then you do not have to attend a MIAM meeting. The court will need evidence that you have tried. You will also need to consider if you can attend an Online MIAM and even have your MIAM by telephone in exceptional circumstances.

10)  You or the other party are in prison or have bail conditions If you or the other party are in prison, then mediation will not be able to take place and you therefore do not have to attend a MIAM appointment. You can seek permission to mediate whist there are bail conditions or the terms of your license allow you to contact the other party, but if your bail conditions or terms of your license do not allow contact then you would be exempt from attending a MIAM.

11)  You or the Respondent are a Child Mediation can only take place between adults, so if you or the other party are under 18, then you do not have to attend a MIAM.

12)  You do not have a mediator near you If you can show that there is not a family mediator within 15 miles of where you live, then you do not have to attend a MIAM.

13)  Lack of availability of a mediator for a MIAM meeting. If you have tried all mediators within 15 miles of where you live, or at least three if there are more than that – and they have all informed you that they cannot hold a MIAM meeting within 15 working days (3 weeks) then you do not have to wait and can submit your application without a MIAM certificate.

14)  You are submitting an order for approval by the court made by consent of both parties If you are sending a Form A application for a Financial Consent Order or a C100 application for a Child Arrangements Order and they are by consent, meaning you have both made an agreement and wish to invite the court to make it legally binding, then you do not need to mediate as agreement has already been reached.

15)  You are filing form A for a Financial Consent Order and either the Applicant or the Respondent are or about to be bankrupt. Bankruptcy adds significant complexity to financial arrangement as the person who is bankrupt is not in direct control or ownership of their financial assets. In such cases mediation would not be suitable, so you do not need a MIAM. You should take urgent legal advice if this is the situation around your divorce or separation.