Divorcing couples should seek mediation instead of fighting stressful court battles that are “traumatic” for children, justice minister Simon Hughes urged today.
The week after Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin announced their “conscious uncoupling”, he said Londoners should try to avoid confrontational sessions before a judge.
New figures appear to show that more people are shunning this amicable approach. Last year, only 701 couples signed up for mediation. In 2011, the number was 1,008.
Mr Hughes, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, said: “Life is stressful enough and it’s clearly more traumatic for the whole family, including children, if you fight it out in court. But with mediation there’s no downside. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain — and you may not get what you want by going through the courts where a judge will dictate the terms. I’m not saying there is never a need to fight a legal case, but mediation should be an option considered by everyone.’
London has been dubbed the world’s divorce capital because of big-money settlements. Its courts received 18,128 applications last year from people whose marriages had broken down.
A law taking effect this month will make it compulsory for divorcing couples to attend a meeting to see if mediation can help. It costs a few hundred pounds compared with thousands in lawyers fees, and is free for those eligible for legal aid. Support group Relate said information about mediation should be made more easily available.
Mother-of-two Tricia Mason, of Harold Wood, Essex, said mediation made the pain of divorce bearable for her and her husband: “It made us recognise our relationship with the children was central to our lives. It means my former husband is still part of the girls’ lives and they’ve been spared the trauma.”
