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Accessible legal tips, know-how and news for anyone with a complaint or legal issue from Stephen Gold, author of The Return of Breaking Law, the book

Friday 21 January 2022

CHILD DISPUTE MEDIATION: FREE £500 TOKENS FOR COST

Involved in a child dispute? Reckon there is a reasonable chance that the intervention of a trained and independent mediator may result in a settlement with the other parent and avoid a contested court hearing? The government has been dishing out tokens worth £500 a go to couples to pay the cost of this form of mediation or at least to go towards the cost where the arguments are about how much contact, whether your son should wear short or long trousers, whether he should be kept to a vegan diet, which school he should attend, whether he is watching too many box sets......   There is no means test:millionaires qualify. I wrote about the scheme at https://www.breakinglaw.co.uk/2021/08/child-dispute-scheme-bolstered-500-on.html   

The hot news is that the government has just committed to make available tokens for another 2,440 couples and that should keep the scheme going to the end of March 2022 although my money is on  the scheme being extended, with more tokens being issued beyond then. It is claimed that since the scheme started, there has been a success rate of 77% which is commendably high although this percentage includes disputes where there has only been partial agreement. But don't worry. The courts won't be out of work.