The Memorandum of Understanding

Contents 6 sections

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If you reach financial proposals in mediation that you both want to take forward, we can record them in a Memorandum of Understanding, usually shortened to MOU.

It is the document that records the proposals reached through mediation. It is not the same thing as the Open Financial Statement, and the difference is worth being clear about.

The Open Financial Statement records the financial facts. The memorandum records the proposals about what should happen next.

What it can record

The detail depends on what you agreed. It may cover whether the family home will be sold or transferred, how equity is to be divided, pensions, savings and investments, debts, maintenance where relevant, and the practical timescales and steps needed to carry the proposals out.

If a property is to be sold, it can record the practical points too: timing, and how the sale is expected to be handled.

The purpose is to turn a discussion into a clear written record, rather than leaving each of you with a different memory of what was said.

Is it legally binding?

No. The memorandum is not a financial court order.

A financial agreement reached in mediation normally needs further legal steps before it becomes legally binding. Each person should have the opportunity to take independent legal advice on the proposals first.

A solicitor or other suitably qualified legal professional can then prepare the appropriate consent-order documents for the court to consider.

Can it be changed?

Before a binding court order is made, legal advice may identify wording or technical points that need more thought.

If something significant emerges, you may prefer to come back to mediation rather than negotiate it through solicitors.

The aim is not to make the document unnecessarily legalistic. It should record the proposals and the practical understanding you reached, clearly enough that somebody advising you can work from it.

What happens to the financial disclosure?

It stays separate, in the Open Financial Statement.

That separation matters. The financial facts are open and can be referred to outside the mediation; the settlement discussion has a different status. Keeping them in two documents is what preserves the distinction.

What happens next

Once both documents have been provided, the mediation stage is normally complete. What follows is a legal process rather than a mediation one:

• independent legal advice for each of you;
• a consent order and the supporting court documents, drafted by a legal professional;
• the application submitted to the court;
• the court considering whether to approve the proposed order.

Sources and further reading

• FMC Code of Practice – conduct of mediation
• GOV.UK – money and property when a relationship ends: mediation
• Practice Direction 9A – financial remedies and consent orders