Divorce And Separation Centre
(Family Mediation Limited)
Bridge House, 1 Brighton Road, RedhillRH1 6PW
01737 772 333
Charges to Clients from 01 Jan 2016 – 31 Dec 2016
Clapham Common/Crawley/Croydon/East-Grinstead/Redhill/Sutton
Mediation Information Assessment Meeting (MIAM)
Clients are charged £95.00 inc VAT (£79.17 + VAT), to be paid in advance, at the time of booking the appointment or opening a file. This is non-refundable.
Where either client is assessed as eligible for Public Funding, the full charge of £95.00 for the MIAM will be refunded to the eligible client. For the non-eligible client, if the eligible client was seen first, the £95 will either be refunded (if mediation does not go ahead) or it will be discounted from the charge of the second joint mediation session. The non-eligible client will also get the first mediation session free.
Where a client refuses or does not keep the appointment and the client has already paid, there will be no refund made.
Where a client has paid the charge and keeps the MIAM appointment, but the other client refuses the MIAM or does not turn up, the full payment of £95.00 is retained by the Service. The required certificate can be issued for court proceedings.
Mediation
Publicly funded clients
There is no Charge for clients who qualify for Public Funding (Legal Aid).
Payment for mediation is made by the Legal Aid Agency. Clients do not have to repay public funding for mediation. This policy applies also to seeing the children where at least one client is Eligible for Public Funding.
It is very important that you give at least 72 hours notice if you need to cancel appointments as the Legal Aid Agency does not make a payment to the Service if you do not attend your appointment. We will need to cancel the mediator and room booked for your appointment. We can then arrange a new appointment if required.
Private clients (Gross income under £60,000)
Our charge is £95/hour inc VAT per private client, payable in advance. Each mediation session lasts for 1.5 hours, so the charge is £142.50 inc VAT per client/session. This can be paid by cash, cheque, debit or most credit cards (there is a £2.50 transaction charge for credit cards). For children having a meeting with the mediator, the charge is £95.00 inc. VAT for a session with the group of children in the family.
Payment is needed at least 7 working days before the date of the session, or the session will normally be cancelled and may be offered to other clients.
Private clients (Gross income over £60,000)
Our charge is £120/hour inc VAT per private client, payable in advance. Each mediation session lasts for 1.5 hours, so the charge is £180 inc VAT per client/session. This can be paid by cash, cheque, debit or most credit cards (there is a £2.50 transaction charge for credit cards). For children having a meeting with the mediator, the charge is £120.00 inc. VAT for a session with the group of children in the family.
Please note that our charges include all administration work and work the mediator does outside the mediation room. The only additional charges are for the Open Financial Statement and the Memorandum of Understanding.
Open Financial Disclosure Statement
There will be a charge of £45.00 inc VAT per private client once a draft Open Financial Statement is sent out. This charge will include the final Open Financial Statement. This payment will be taken the first time you receive your Open Financial Statement and will not be taken again.
Final Document (Memorandum of Understanding)
There will be a charge of £120 inc VAT per private client (payable two weeks in advance of receiving final document).
Cancellations and refunds of payments for mediation sessions:
Provided notice is received by the office 72 hours before the session, the payment can
either be refunded or used to rebook.
If notice is received less than 48 hours before the session, the Service reserves the right to make a cancellation charge to that client of £50inc VAT. This is needed to meet the costs of paying the mediator and room rental. If the client gives less than 24 hours notice there will be no refund given.
If the client does not keep the appointment without notifying the office, the Service will normally retain the client’s payment in full.