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When financial disclosure has been exchanged and the main questions have been answered, we can prepare an Open Financial Statement, usually shortened to OFS.
It is the factual financial document used in the mediation. It records the financial picture the discussions are based on. It does not decide who should receive what.
What goes into it
The detail depends on the family. It can include the family home and any other property, mortgages, bank accounts, savings, investments, pensions, income, business interests, debts and liabilities, relevant expenditure, inheritance or other significant financial resources, and anything else needed to understand the position.
There is often useful factual detail alongside the figures: who owns what, approximate dates, valuations, outstanding balances.
The aim is simple. Both of you looking at the same financial picture.
Why it is called “open”
The word has a particular meaning here.
The Family Mediation Council’s Code of Practice says factual information material to financial issues must be provided on an open basis, so that it can be referred to in legal proceedings. That is different from the private negotiation and settlement discussion that happens during mediation.
So if mediation ends without a settlement, the factual financial disclosure does not simply disappear. How disclosure works.
Does it divide the finances?
No.
If the statement records a pension, a property or a savings account, that does not mean it will be divided equally, or dealt with in any one particular way.
The statement establishes the information. The settlement discussion comes afterwards and considers the whole circumstances, the options, and what would work in practice.
Can I show it to my solicitor?
Yes. That is part of the point of having one.
Each person can take independent advice using the same factual information. A solicitor, financial adviser, mortgage adviser, tax adviser or pension expert may need to see the relevant parts when advising you.
If court proceedings later become necessary, open financial information can also be referred to as appropriate.
What happens after it
Once the financial picture is sufficiently clear, mediation can turn more directly to settlement proposals: the home, pensions, savings, debts, maintenance, and how each of you may move forward financially.
If you reach proposals you both want to take forward, those are recorded separately in a Memorandum of Understanding.
Where the information needed simply is not forthcoming, that is dealt with differently – see what happens if someone will not disclose.
Sources and further reading
- FMC Code of Practice – general principles
- FMC Code of Practice – conduct of mediation
- GOV.UK – money and property when a relationship ends: mediation
This page is general information about family mediation. It is not legal advice about your own situation.