Lincolnshire Mediation

Independent mediators

Neighbourhood dispute mediation (Case Study)

When neighbours fall-out there are often hard feelings all round. But sometimes situations can corrode further with positively harmful feelings towards each other, sucking-in off other neighbours and relatives, and eventual involvement of housing officers and even the police. While housing officers and police often have some level of mediation training they, like many other professionals also have statutory responsibilities such as managing eviction orders or prosecutions, and the resulting boundary confusion may not always allow them to affect an easy resolution with warring parties especially when the situation has been deteriorating over time. Continual involvement and callout of public officials such as the police also represents a cost to the public purse and it is the community charge payer who picks up this bill.

"An initial information session in progress"

Increasingly nowadays the police are focussing on good-quality outcomes which stop short of prosecution, and it is into this arena that professional mediating bodies such as Lincolnshire Mediation can step, offering a service that is neutral, fair to all parties and is above all effective in providing a sustainable and high level of repair to relationships, often allowing communities to breath again. Let's look at a typical (anonymous) example from the East Midlands...

Mr and Mrs S. and Mr and Mrs B. had been neighbours for 3 years and from the time they met they had not 'seen eye to eye'. This had started after an argument between their children, had worsened after damage had been noticed to one of the party's cars while it was parked in the street and blocking in on the shared driveway had also occurred. Name calling and 'watching' had also been cited as problems and the police and housing officer had been called out on many occasions to see both parties. Solicitors' letters had also been exchanged and the problems were escalating...

Both parties wanted a cessation of hostilities even though they had no idea how a solution might emerge and they wanted nothing to do with the other. To their credit, both parties agreed to try mediation even though this meant potentially having to meet together. Separate information-gathering meetings were organised with each couple during which mediators at LM were able to hear the extent of the disagreement and explain to the clients how mediation works. Both couples said they wanted to resolve their situation and agreed to meet together in the safe physical and emotional space offered at Lincolnshire Mediation.

A subsequent meeting was arranged for all parties where the couples and the mediators met together. The ground rules of mediation were explained and each couple had the chance to explain their feelings about the situation and then they were able to respond to each other. At times the exchanges were very heated but with LM mediators holding the space for the meeting and helping the parties to work within their ground-rules. Frustrations were evident at different times when Mr S left the room and Mrs B did likewise having become extremely upset. After a break the situation gradually became calmer and the mediators were able to help the couples begin to look towards the future and at what they would like to happen. Both couples came up with very similar ideas and some tentative conversation began. Mrs B said 'how did we get from there to here?' Mrs S said 'we may not end up being close friends but we should now be able to talk with each other if anything arises in the future'. With the help of the mediators, an agreement was put together and signed by all the parties.

Feedback from the police indicates that since this successful mediated outcome, the dispute is at an end and no further police time has been used on it.

Family Mediation (Case Study)

When a couple is separating from a relationship there are a tremendous amount of emotions to deal with, along with the concerns of where the children and each individual will live and how assets and liabilities will be divided. In the past this couple have made all their decisions over their children and their finances together but now they are separating they hand this over to their respective solicitors who are working for each individual.

In mediation this couple are able to work together to make arrangements for their children and decide on how their finance and property will be divided with the help of a mediator. The mediator does not take sides, or give advice but helps the couple to resolve their differences without going to court so hopefully further ill-feeling may be avoided. Their solicitors will give the couple legal advice on the agreements they have come to, ensuring that priority is given to the needs of the children and a fair outcome has been agreed for each party. This can then be drawn up into a legally binding agreement called a Memorandum of Understanding and a Statement of Financial Information.

Mr and Mrs E were separating after 8 years of marriage. They had 3 children and Mrs E had met someone else and wanted to leave Mr E. Mr E was consequently very upset but was prepared to come to mediation in order to discuss the future particularly with regard to his children. They both agreed that the children should live with Mrs E but where would they live? They had a mortgage on a bungalow and Mr E had a pension which had a transfer value of £34,000. They also had credit card debts and a car loan. With the help of a mediator they looked at various options. Mr and Mrs E were able to make decisions which suited them both and a draft Memorandum of Understanding was drawn up and discussed with their respective solicitors. At their last mediation session they finalised any points their solicitors had raised and confirmed that they were pleased that they had been able to make their own decisions about the children and their future and felt that mediation was an excellent process despite it being such a difficult time.