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Mark Young - Mediator I thought it might be helpful if I added a note on me, how I became involved in mediation, the sort of cases I am prepared to take on, the way I work, and a comment about my costs. First of all, I am a Chartered Accountant and I have spent most of my career working in the City of London. Some time ago, friends (whose spouses were being foul) asked me if I would help put together the figures for their Form E, which is the huge financial document that usually has to be completed as part of the divorce process. I became thoroughly involved in one of the cases, to the extent that I was seeing all the correspondence, drafting replies, talking to and attending meetings with the solicitor, and so on. I was horrified by the tone of the letters that were going between the lawyers; the demands were quite unrealistic and would never have been accepted by the courts. All the letters seemed to do was crank up the animosity and make a bad situation even worse. As children were involved, I thought this was appalling. Nevertheless, I found the whole process very interesting, and I remember thinking that I would be content if I could make a living doing the sort of work that I had done in helping my friends. A short time later, I found out about mediation and, having looked at it, switched careers as I really do believe in its value. However, not all separations are suitable for mediation and I will not take all cases that come my way. I cannot take cases that are funded by Legal Aid, and I will not take cases where there are serious disputes over children. It is best that such disputes are resolved by family solicitors first, and then I may be able to help with sorting out the finances. Finally, it is probably best that very high value cases, involving complex trusts and so on, are handled by solicitors and barristers. That leaves quite a large amount of business where I believe I may be able to help; if I don't think I can, I will say so. As far as working is concerned, I am based in the South East and I would prefer to see clients face to face. It is important that they are able to assess me and decide whether or not they can trust me to handle their sensitive and confidential issues. However, I am aware that, due to this web-site, I will be reaching a geographically wider spread of potential clients, and therefore I may have to adapt my working practices to suit them. In the event that a couple do decide to use my mediation services, I will require both parties to make a full and frank disclosure of their financial affairs; this is most important. It may be worth pointing out that, because a legally enforcable deed is based on the information provided, any material non-disclosure could lead to charges of perjury, for which you can be locked up. Often people think that solicitors will be able to find out more about their spouse's assets. The truth is that solicitors are as dependent as mediators on full disclosure by clients - unless one starts using special investigators. To work out the financial situation, in effect, I draw up a family balance sheet. Thus I will need to know, for example, the value of your house (if you own it), the balance of your mortgage, the value of your savings and investments, pension fund details, credit card balances, and so on. I also need to look at income and expenditure, both currently and what it is likely to be after financcial separation. This is to ensure that any proposed plan will work in the future - there is no point in giving one party a huge house, if he or she cannot afford to run it or buy food. Perhaps I should add that, unfortunately, I do need to make an income and I do not give free advice. On the other hand, I think my costs are reasonable and, generally, I am happy to agree costs at the outset, which gives clients some degree of certainty. As an example, I saw a couple not long ago and they had been told to expect legal fees of between £3,000 and £5,000 each. Their affairs were pretty straightforward, and I quoted £2,000 to be split between them. If you wish to contact me, my details are as follows:- Address: M H G Young FCA, 22 Arundel Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 1TB Telephone: 01892 519917
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