No. Family mediation is not compulsory. What is compulsory is to have a meeting, before going to court, to decide whether mediation or some other type of out-of-court dispute resolution might be a better way of sorting out the problems in question.

These meetings are called MIAMs (Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings). If a person wants to make an application to court to sort out parenting arrangements, money and property matters that have arisen following a family breakup, then they will be expected to have a ‘MIAM’ first.

There are some exemptions to this rule, e.g. where there is or has been domestic violence, or where there is risk of harm to a child or someone else who is affected by the court application, or where there is great urgency. There are other exemptions, but most people will need to attend a MIAM.

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