Case Study: Paul and Hayley
Spending time and Property Settlement
Facts:
Hayley had experienced the devastating effect on her brothers acrimonious divorce only a year earlier. When her own relationship fell apart, she decided that mediation was worth exploring. Paul and Hayley had decided to separate and had agreed that their children, Bella aged 10 years, Tom aged 7 and Eloisa aged 2 years would live with mum Hayley, but disagreements remained as how much time the children would spend with Paul and how the finances would be divided.
Paul and Hayley were referred to us by Hayley’s solicitors to mediate and assist the parties reach a financial agreement and to resolve how much time each parent would spend with their children.
Outcome:
After only one session, lasting 3 hours, Paul and Hayley reached an agreement as how much time Paul would spend with the children and where, as Paul had moved out of the marital home. Paul and Hayley agreed, that he would see the children every alternate day and one day each weekend.
The financial settlement was complicated and the parties required a series of sessions to work out a fair and workable agreement. The parties were advised before and during the mediation, that each should take independent legal advice as to their positions and for there to be full and frank disclosure of each of their assets and liabilities, to allow both Paul and Hayley to come to mediation and to be able to make informed decisions as to how to best proceed. At one session, both Paul and Hayley were lawyer-assisted which ultimately led to a Consent Order being drafted reflecting the terms of their agreement.
Feedback:
”We were all emotionally drained by my brother’s divorce. There were long drawn out legal proceedings, spiteful behaviour, backbiting, distressed children and a large legal bill at the end of it all. My family are very close but my brothers divorce, tore our family apart, causing huge divisions. We knew we had to have the courage to try an alternative for our own children once we realised our relationship was over”
”Our mediator was so professional and so calm. It seemed to us like there was a massive amount that we had to sort out but the mediator was experienced and she helped us sort out all the issues we had to deal with like mortgages and super”
“We were in a real mess to begin with but we stuck it out. Now, we’ve both come to terms with the future and the children know we’re there for them. I wouldn’t have believed we could achieve so much in such a short time.”
This is a real case study from our trained mediators, though names have been changed to protect identities
