This our penultimate article in our series of essential updates ahead of the family law reforms. It summarises the essential points you need to know about MIAMs for the 22 April 2014.

In a nutshell:

There is a new FPR 2010, Pt 3 and a new Practice Direction 3A to supplement it. The requirement to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) before making an application has also been strengthened and given statutory force - the requirement is now set out in statute, by the Child And Families Act 2014, s 10.

When:

22 April 2014

The Statutes and Statutory Instruments that make the changes:

The Family Procedure (Amendment No. 3) Rules 2014 2014/843

FPR 2010 Practice Direction 3A - Non-Court Dispute Resolution

Summary of the changes:

(1) The court must consider, at every stage in the proceedings, whether non-court dispute resolution is appropriate and must consider whether a MIAM took place, whether a MIAM exemption was claimed/mediator's exemption confirmed and whether the parties attempted mediation/another form of non-court dispute resolution and the outcome. The court can adjourn proceedings if it considers non-court dispute resolution is appropriate.

(2) Before filing an application for a private law children proceedings or proceedings for a financial remedy the applicant is required to attend a MIAM (CFA 2014, s 10(1) and FPR 2010, r 3.6). Any application for private law children proceedings or proceedings for a financial remedy must be accompanied by a form containing either: (a) a confirmation from an authorised family mediator that the prospective applicant has attended a MIAM; (b) a claim by the prospective applicant that one of the MIAM exemptions applies; or (c) a confirmation from an authorised family mediator that a mediator's exemption applies.

(3) The MIAM exemptions are:

Domestic violence

There is evidence of domestic violence, as specified in Practice Direction 3A.

Child protection concerns

A child would be the subject of the application; and that child or another child of the family who is living with that child is currently the subject of enquiries by a local authority under section 47 of the 1989 Act or the subject of a child protection plan put in place by a local authority.

Urgency

The application must be made urgently because:

• there is risk to the life, liberty or physical safety of the prospective applicant or his or her family or his or her home or any delay caused by attending a MIAM would cause a risk of harm to a child; a risk of unlawful removal of a child from the UK, or a risk of unlawful retention of a child who is currently outside England and Wales; a significant risk of a miscarriage of justice; unreasonable hardship to the prospective applicant; or irretrievable problems in dealing with the dispute (including the irretrievable loss of significant evidence); or

• there is a significant risk that in the period necessary to schedule and attend a MIAM, proceedings relating to the dispute will be brought in another state in which a valid claim to jurisdiction may exist, such that a court in that other State would be seised of the dispute before a court in England and Wales.

Previous MIAM attendance or MIAM exemption

In the 4 months prior to making the application, the person attended a MIAM or participated in another form of non-court dispute resolution relating to the same or substantially the same dispute or at the time of making the application, the person is participating in another form of non-court dispute resolution relating to the same or substantially the same dispute.

In the 4 months prior to making the application, the person filed a relevant family application confirming that a MIAM exemption applied and that application related to the same or substantially the same dispute.

The application would be made in existing proceedings which are continuing and the prospective applicant attended a MIAM before initiating those proceedings.

The application would be made in existing proceedings which are continuing and a MIAM exemption applied to the application for those proceedings.

Other

There is evidence that the prospective applicant is bankrupt, as specified in FPR 2010, PD 3A and the proceedings would be for a financial remedy.

The prospective applicant does not have sufficient contact details for any of the prospective respondents to enable a family mediator to contact any of the prospective respondents for the purpose of scheduling the MIAM.

The application would be made without notice.

The prospective applicant is or all of the prospective respondents are subject to a disability or other inability that would prevent attendance at a MIAM unless appropriate facilities can be offered by an authorised mediator; the prospective applicant has contacted as many authorised family mediators as have an office within 15 miles of his or home (or three of them if there are three or more), and all have stated that they are unable to provide such facilities; and the names, postal addresses and telephone numbers or email addresses for such authorised family mediators, and the dates of contact, can be provided to the court if requested.

Amy Royce-Greensill is a Family Law PSL at Jordan Publishing and was formerly a family solicitor practising in London.

Amy can be contacted on Twitter at @AmyRoyceG