If you have ever wondered whether it would be worth paying a little extra simply to get an answer sooner, new research suggests a great many people feel exactly the same.
Research published on 18 September by the law firm Mills & Reeve found that 38.9 per cent of UK adults would pay a premium to have a family financial dispute resolved faster through a private route rather than waiting for the court. The survey, carried out by Censuswide among 1,000 adults, found that 21 per cent would pay up to £250 more for a quicker outcome and 15 per cent would pay up to £500 more. Just over half of those asked, 51 per cent, supported the idea of people being able to pay privately to be heard sooner.
Those numbers did not surprise us. What gave us pause was a quieter figure in the same study. Only 25 per cent were aware that private alternatives to the family court existed at all, even though 42 per cent had already used one or more. A good many people are willing to spend money on speed without being told what their options actually are.
We want to offer a gentler reading of all this, from the perspective of mediators who sit with separating couples every week. Speed in a family matter is very rarely something you buy. It is something you design, together, at the start.
What the Research Actually Found
It is worth setting the findings out plainly, because the headline figure alone can read as though families are being asked to pay for queue jumping.
- Nearly four in ten would pay for speed: 38.9 per cent said they would pay a premium for a faster private resolution of a family financial dispute.
- The sums involved are modest: 21 per cent would pay up to £250 more and 15 per cent up to £500 more.
- Most people are already off the court path: 42 per cent had used one or more private services during a family dispute.
- Awareness is the real gap: only 25 per cent knew that private family law alternatives were available to them.
- It is not only about money: 13.8 per cent said reducing stress was their reason for wanting a faster outcome.
That last point matters most. When someone says they would pay £250 to finish sooner, they are not pricing a service. They are pricing a winter of not knowing where they will be living, or how Christmas will work.
Why Waiting Costs More Than the Fee
In our experience the real expense of a slow separation is almost never the professional fees. It is the second set of household bills running longer than it needed to, the house that cannot be sold or remortgaged because nothing has been agreed, and the job in another town that has to be turned down.
There is an emotional bill too, and children tend to pay a share of it. Young people are remarkably good at sensing an unresolved atmosphere, even when the adults believe they are managing it beautifully. A home in limbo for a year is a very different place to grow up in than one where the grown ups reached an arrangement and then got on with being parents.
The Routes Three Quarters of People Did Not Know They Had
If only a quarter of adults know there is an alternative to court, that is a failure of information rather than a failure of the families themselves. So here, briefly, is what is available.
Family mediation is a series of structured conversations with a trained, impartial mediator who helps you both reach your own decisions about finances, property and arrangements for children. Nothing is imposed on you. Alongside it sit private financial dispute resolution hearings and early neutral evaluation, where you jointly appoint an experienced evaluator to give a view on how a court would be likely to approach your case, and collaborative practice, where each of you has a solicitor and everyone commits to settling around a table.
These are not competing products. Most families we work with use mediation as the main route, take advice from a solicitor in the background, then have the agreement turned into a consent order so that it is legally binding.
What Actually Makes a Settlement Faster
Speed, in our experience, comes from a handful of unglamorous habits rather than from spending more.
- Get the paperwork together early: payslips, mortgage statements, pension valuations and account balances. Nothing slows things down like waiting three months for one pension figure.
- Be honest about everything, first time: full disclosure is not a formality. A settlement built on an incomplete picture is the one most likely to be reopened later.
- Agree the agenda before you argue about the answers: couples who settle quickly usually spend the first session deciding what actually needs deciding.
- Take advice in parallel, not afterwards: speaking to a solicitor while you mediate is far quicker than discovering a problem once you think you have finished.
- Book the next appointment before you leave: momentum is worth more than any premium fee.
Faster Family Dispute Resolution Need Not Mean Paying a Premium
Here is the part of the research we would want every separating couple to hear. Faster family dispute resolution is not a luxury tier sitting above the ordinary one. For most families, the quicker route and the more affordable route are the same route, and it is the one that starts with a conversation rather than an application.
Mediation is usually measured in a handful of sessions over a few months, at a cost you can see in advance. We publish ours openly on our prices page, because uncertainty about cost is one of the reasons people delay picking up the phone. There is also the government backed Family Mediation Voucher Scheme, which can contribute where child arrangements form part of the discussion, and legal aid for those who are eligible.
A Gentle Next Step
If you recognise yourself in that 38.9 per cent, you do not need to reach for your card just yet. You need a first conversation. A Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting, usually shortened to a MIAM, is a private, one to one appointment in which we explain the options and help you work out whether mediation suits your circumstances. There is no obligation to continue, and many people find that simply understanding the landscape takes a good deal of weight off.
You may find your first questions already answered on our frequently asked questions page. If not, we would be glad to hear from you. Emma and Charlotte are accredited family mediators based in Saffron Walden, working with families across Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, in person and online.
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