Children and Families Act 2014

10 Family mediation information and assessment meetings

(1) Before making a relevant family application, a person must attend a family mediation information and assessment meeting.

(2) Family Procedure Rules—

(a) may provide for subsection (1) not to apply in circumstances specified in the Rules,

(b) may make provision about convening a family mediation information and assessment meeting, or about the conduct of such a meeting,

(c) may make provision for the court not to issue, or otherwise deal with, an application if, in contravention of subsection (1), the applicant has not attended a family mediation information and assessment meeting, and

(d) may provide for a determination as to whether an applicant has contravened subsection (1) to be made after considering only evidence of a description specified in the Rules.

(3) In this section—

• “the court” means the High Court or the family court;

• “family mediation information and assessment meeting”, in relation to a relevant family application, means a meeting held for the purpose of enabling information to be provided about—

  (a)

  mediation of disputes of the kinds to which relevant family applications relate,

  (b)

  ways in which disputes of those kinds may be resolved otherwise than by the court, and

  (c)

  the suitability of mediation, or of any such other way of resolving disputes, for trying to resolve any dispute to which the particular application relates;

• “family proceedings” has the same meaning as in section 75 of the Courts Act 2003;

• “relevant family application” means an application that—

  (a)

  is made to the court in, or to initiate, family proceedings, and

  (b)

  is of a description specified in Family Procedure Rules.

(4) This section is without prejudice to sections 75 and 76 of the Courts Act 2003 (power to make Family Procedure Rules).