Hi - just signed on. How good is mediation?

Hi I'm a dad living in London and am a respondent in a divorce application. We're about to go through financial disclosure and then (maybe) agree on child residency. Any tips on how to deal with the mediation process? I'm not confident in the mediator's declared impartiality...anyone else feel the same?

A few people have posted about this ... we have a mediator called Imediate if you want to check out his posts. From a lawyer's point of view, if you can agree via mediation it is far better for both of you in the short, medium and longer term. In the short to medium term it keeps you talking, and reduces is far less stressful than proceedings or even just going through lawyers. In the longer term you are far more likely to have a passable relationship with your ex (which is vital where children are involved) having gone through mediation rather than having gone through proceedings.

Good luck with it.

Amanda

Thanks - better to 'jaw jaw' than 'war war' as Churchill said. This isn't WW2 but it still feels pretty sh*tty all the same.

Trust me... if mediation breaks and you end up in court, it can soon feel like "war war" as many of the sorry tales on here demonstrate . Talking is good... I wholly understand that sometimes talking necessitates taking a deep breath and counting to 10 before responding (I have that Tshirt ), but keep it up - that is far far far better than the alternative.

How do I check out Imediate's postings?

Go to his profile (link below) scrool down and you will see the list:

www.wikivorce.com/divorce/index.php?opti...4423&Itemid=2096

Does your ex intend to co-operate and make full disclosure. My ex assumed that mediation was just part of the process in getting the divorce and having to co-operate and make disclusure was totally alien to her so it was a complete waste of time and money but then what did she or her solicitor care as it was all publically funded for her.
If you or you ex can't co-operate the what is the point. I do find the theory of mediation applied to divorce odd since surely you are divorcing on the basis that one party or other is unreasonable or untrustworthy.