Legal Aid for Mediation

Legal Aid is provided by the government to cover the cost of our family mediation service for families in dispute.

It is available for family mediation cases that help families agree arrangements about:

  • Finances and property, including what happens to the family home, child maintenance, and financial settlement if you are getting divorced.
  • Child arrangements, from a single issue you are not able to agree on, to arrangements that have completely broken down, and everything in between.
  • Any dispute following a family breakdown that may end up in court.

It is means-tested, so you have to provide evidence of your current financial circumstances to prove you’re entitled to receive it.

If you are eligible, Legal Aid will cover all your individual mediation costs. It will also cover the costs of the initial appointment and first mediation meeting for the other person if they’re not eligible in their own right.

Eligibility for Legal Aid also enables you to get legal aid for legal costs, up to a cost limit (called Help with Family Mediation)

You may be eligible for legal aid for mediation if you are on a low income or not working. We will help you start the assessment process before you book an appointment, but you can enquire about legal aid at any time during the mediation process.

You can find more information in our legal aid FAQs here.

If you are ready to book an appointment you can go straight to our online booking page or call our mediation team on 0300 4000 636, or email [email protected]

Read Maria and Levi’s experience of family mediation