As a firm, Anthony Collins is proud to focus on improving lives, communities and society. Our family team supports individuals and their families at pivotal times of their lives, often an emotional and distressing time. It is our aim to reduce the stress of the relationship breakdown in all aspects of our work and therefore mediation completely fits our goal by helping separating couples reach their own decisions for the benefit of their family. The firm has provided support to mediation by enabling our family mediation team to grow. 

Chris Lloyd-Smith and Maria Ramon are both accredited mediators and I am working towards accreditation. We all allocate time each week to provide mediation services, time traditionally spent on providing legal advice and advising clients in court proceedings. The aim is to help separated couples make decisions so they can focus on moving forward with their lives as quickly as possible. The time and money saved can be spent on their families instead. 

We understand that separated couples may not have additional funds to pay towards mediation, especially as the cost of living keeps rising. Anthony Collins is committed to participating in the mediation voucher scheme to assist towards the cost of mediation sessions. In 2021, the Ministry of Justice launched a voucher scheme which provides a contribution of up to £500 towards the mediation costs for eligible cases, supporting people in resolving their family law disputes outside of court, where appropriate. Maria Ramon and Chris Lloyd-Smith are authorised by the Family Mediation Council to take part in the voucher scheme. The following case types are eligible for a mediation voucher:

• a dispute/application regarding a child
• a dispute/application regarding family financial matters where you are also involved in a dispute/application relating to a child

Anyone wanting to know more about the benefits of family mediation can visit our website or call 0121 212 7413.