Has anyone been to mediation for child contact?

[flummingbird]

I've had previous threads on my ex's contact with DD but essentially it's been really crap for over a year and he's now suddenly decided he wants 50/50, when for the last 15 months she's been withdrawn and not speaking at his house. For the last 2 weeks he's been ultra attentive Disney dad and now of course she is really happy and wants to be there...

I have had my MIAM, and the first proper session is next week.

I'm just wondering if anyone can advise how it actually works - does the mediator just go "a-ha, u-huh" and try to get us to agree on something, or will they put forward their ideas and experience and stuff and try to suggest a reasonable outcome? Any advice on how to tackle it and what I should prepare??

I found that they would do the first, hoping you could agree. If that didn't work, they'd start making suggestions. If that didn't work, they'd look disappointed and not a lot more could be done.

Ultimately, we were banned from mediation for being too argumentative and not having a central ground we could meet in. We were able to agree privately in the end (he didn't pay maintenance, but also didn't try to claim time just to get out of maintenance...). We are both brutally stubborn, which didn't help.

Good luck! I hope you manage an acceptable resolution.

Thanks - I have a feeling that if I forget about the money I currently get (which is not a lot) this could all go away... but that's a last ditch thing I guess.

It's awful going in to something you have no experience of that is so important...

Bumping for the evening crowd?