Mythbusters

National Family Mediation

Did you know that:

  • In most cases, before you can make an application for a financial order in divorce proceedings or an application concerning children, the Applicant must attend a Mediation Information & Assessment Meeting (MIAM). Only specially trained people can carry out MIAMs and usually they are accredited Mediators.
  • You must be married for at least one year before you can apply for a divorce.
  • There is no time limit for making a financial claim for a divorce settlement against your spouse/former spouse. Providing the Applicant has not remarried (or died) when the application is made, the Applicant is free to make an application at any time, even 20 or 30+ years after divorce. However, delay may well adversely affect the amount of the award.
  • Inheritances are only taken into account in a divorce settlement if they have already been received or are likely to be received imminently. It has to crystallize in the foreseeable future otherwise there is no guarantee that it may ever arise. How the inheritance will be treated in financial proceedings arising on divorce will depend on a number of factors.
  • Where there are insufficient funds to meet the parties’ needs in financial proceedings arising on divorce, the parties’ needs will take priority over all other arguments.
  • There is no such thing as “common law husband and wife”. Cohabitees do not have the same legal rights as spouses and civil partners and do not acquire legal rights simply by living together.
  • Whilst a gay couple can acquire the same legal rights as a married couple by entering into a Civil Partnership, a heterosexual couple cannot. To acquire legal rights, a heterosexual couple have no choice but to marry.
  • A cohabitee cannot make a claim against their partner’s income or pension(s). They may also be adversely affected if their partner dies without making proper provision for him/her in a Will.
  • When the Court considers making a financial order on divorce, the starting point is 50:50. The Court takes the view that one spouse’s financial contributions are equivalent to the other spouse’s non financial contributions. However, the equal starting point can be departed from, depending on the facts.