Online family mediation

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Most of our mediation is done by video call. It follows the same mediation process and professional standards as an in-person meeting, held wherever you happen to be.

Why most people choose it

• No travelling, and no day off work beyond the meeting
• You can attend from home, or anywhere private
• Appointments are easier to arrange at short notice
• It works wherever you are in England and Wales

There is a practical reason too, and it is the one people mention afterwards: you are in your own space. Nobody has to walk into a room and find the other person already sitting there. When the session ends you close the laptop and you are already home.

Does it work as well as sitting in a room?

For most cases, yes. A few things are genuinely different, and it is fairer to say so than to pretend otherwise.

You lose some of what a room gives you – the small shifts in how someone is sitting, the pause before an answer. We compensate by slowing things down and checking more often that both of you are still with the conversation.

What you gain is that people are often calmer. Sitting three feet from someone you are in dispute with is hard, and a screen takes some of that heat out of the first session.

Where a case is finely balanced, or where the two of you have not been in the same room for a long time and there is a reason to try, we will say that meeting in person may be better.

What you need

A phone, tablet or computer with a camera, a reasonable connection, and somewhere private where you can speak freely. Headphones help if anyone else is home.

You will get a link. On most devices it opens straight in the browser, with nothing to install and no account to create. If you would like to test it beforehand, ask – it takes two minutes and it is better than finding out on the day.

Somewhere private is the part that matters

This is the thing that most often goes wrong, and it is worth planning properly.

Not the car outside work, if you can avoid it. Not a room where a child might come in – children should not overhear these conversations, and you will hold back if you think they might. If home genuinely does not work, some libraries have bookable rooms, and it is worth asking your employer for a quiet room rather than taking the call badly.

If you cannot find anywhere, tell us. It is a normal problem and it is better solved before the session than during it.

Can you be online while the other person is in the room?

Yes. Sessions do not have to be all one thing or all the other, and mixing the two is fairly routine – particularly where one of you has moved away or is abroad. If one of you is living overseas, see mediating from abroad.

Is an agreement reached online any weaker?

No. The documents are the same documents, they say the same things, and a solicitor or a court treats them no differently. Where a signature is needed it can be done electronically or by post.

If online does not suit you

In-person appointments are available in London. Say so when you get in touch – you will not be asked to explain why, and choosing to meet in person does not slow anything down.