Grandparents Mr and Mrs B referred their matter to us after a short period of unsuccessfully trying to resolve a dispute directly with their son F.

Mr and Mrs B had been looking after their grandson A for some years, following the death of F’s wife and F having difficulties of his own. As a result of F’s problems, A had been placed with Mr and Mrs B by the local authority, and a Special Guardianship Order had been made by the Court some years before our involvement.

At the time Mr and Mrs B got in touch with us, F was trying to persuade them to increase the amount of time that A could spend with him, to include extra overnight stays and more extended periods in school holidays.

Mr and Mrs B were concerned that A did not feel comfortable staying overnight at F’s home and that he regarded Mr and Mrs B’s house as his “main” home after spending so long there. Mr and Mrs B did not want to feel as though they were dictating to F and did not want to go back to the Court process, so invited F to try mediation.

In the mediation for grandparents sessions, Mr and Mrs B and F were able to say how they each felt about the situation and discuss a way forward that would work for all of them, but still, most importantly what would work for A. With some additional input from A’s social worker, they were able to come up with proposals to create a framework for A to move towards spending more time with F but still having the security of knowing that his main home would continue to be with Mr and Mrs B.

To provide A with greater security, Mr and Mrs B (with F’s knowledge and agreement) made an application to Court to replace the previously limited arrangements for contact with the new proposals that had been discussed in mediation. The Court was happy to approve the proposals and turn them into a binding order to bring the matter to a close, while still allowing flexibility for A to increase the time he spends with F as he gets older / more confident.

Whatever your situation, if you feel mediation for grandparents may help you do call one of our specialist mediators to arrange a meeting at any one of our four locations.

Claire was referred to us by her solicitor as her husband Philip had refused to discuss financial matters with her in a constructive way. His overseas work commitments made arranging the mediation very challenging, but we were able to organise multiple sessions over two working days when Claire and Philip were both available.

Claire’s main priority was to avoid Court as she had heard it would be expensive and stressful. In mediation, Claire and Philip were able to set their timetable for discussions and formulate a way forward that worked for both of them and was ultimately approved by the Court, giving them both certainty for the future. By being flexible for these clients we enabled them to avoid at least 6 – 12 months of Court proceedings

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Jack and his ex-partner, Sophie came to us after trying to sort out arrangements for their son Hugo firstly through another mediation service and then in Court. Jack’s solicitor suggested that mediation with Farnfields was worth a try, mainly to see if they could improve communications between them, especially as Hugo had some chronic health issues that required many medical appointments. Naturally, both Jack and Sophie wanted to be at as many of Hugo’s medical appointments and other significant events (such as starting nursery) as they could, but difficulties between the two of them were beginning to have an impact on Hugo.

Jack and Sophie had not been able to agree where Hugo should spend most of his time, and both had different fears about Hugo spending more time with the other parent, further complicated by Hugo’s health concerns. After a few mediation sessions, and with the help of one of our experienced mediators, Jack and Sophie were able to be open and honest about their fears and worked out an arrangement for Hugo to spend time with both of them which avoided an expensive and highly stressful contested Court hearing.

To discuss any concerns please do get in touch with the team in the first instance.