EAG Family Mediation

Family Mediation Winsford

Winsford families, I can help you find a way forward

I'm Elizabeth, a local accredited family mediator offering a personal, bespoke service to families across Winsford.

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Winsford is not a town that shouts about itself. It sits quietly in the heart of mid-Cheshire, on the banks of the River Weaver, with its salt-mining heritage, its Flashes, its strong community feel, and residents who — as those who know the town will tell you — often choose to stay for life. It is a town built on loyalty, on knowing your neighbours, on getting on with things. And yet when a relationship breaks down here, as it does in every community, the consequences are just as painful and just as complex as anywhere else. I’m Elizabeth, and through EAG Family Mediation I work with separating couples in Winsford and across Cheshire to help them navigate those consequences — constructively, privately, and without the cost and conflict of going to court.

What Draws Me to This Work

My professional background is in law. I qualified as a solicitor in 2001 and spent a number of years working in commercial litigation at a large North West firm. Mediation came into my life through the commercial disputes I was involved in — I saw how often it produced better outcomes than the adversarial process, even in cases where the parties had seemed completely entrenched.

When I retrained as a family mediator after taking a career break to raise my four sons, I brought that legal grounding with me. I understand how the family courts work, what financial disclosure actually requires, what a consent order means and why it matters and what the legal framework around child arrangements looks like. That knowledge shapes the way I guide mediation — not by giving legal advice, which is not my role, but by helping people understand the landscape they are navigating and make decisions within it that are realistic and durable.

For families in Winsford, where the housing stock is varied, where many households have been built carefully over years on modest but hard-earned foundations, and where community ties are strong enough that former partners will inevitably cross paths long after a separation is done, getting the separation right matters enormously. Court proceedings can be expensive, slow, and damaging to the relationships that still need to function — particularly when children are involved. Mediation offers an alternative to that.

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What Family Mediation Actually Does

Family mediation is a voluntary, confidential process in which I work with both parties — separately at first, then together — to help you reach your own agreements about the practical consequences of your separation. I do not take sides. I do not tell you what to decide. My role is to create the conditions in which a productive conversation can happen, and to keep it moving forward even when it is difficult.

The issues that mediation addresses typically fall into two areas, though often both overlap.

Arrangements for children. Where will they live? How will time spent with the other parent be structured? How will decisions about their schooling in Winsford be made? How will you handle the school holidays, Christmas, birthdays and the dozens of practical questions that co-parenting requires you to answer together even after you have separated? These conversations are rarely straightforward but they can be held in mediation, where both parents can be properly heard and where the focus stays on what children actually need.

Financial matters. The family home, savings, pensions, any shared debts, and the ongoing financial arrangements between you. These conversations require honesty and full disclosure — and they require someone who can hold a structured space for them, even when trust between the parties is difficult.

In mediation, you make these decisions rather than the court. The difference — in terms of how those decisions feel, how sustainable they are and how they affect the relationship you still have to maintain as co-parents — is significant.

The Services I Offer to Families in Winsford

Every separation is different, and I tailor my approach to the people in front of me. Full details of everything I offer are on the Services page. Here is an overview.

Initial Assessment Meeting (MIAM)

Every mediation begins with a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting — a MIAM. This is a private, individual meeting between you and me, held separately from your ex-partner. It usually takes place online and lasts around an hour. It is your opportunity to tell me about your situation in your own words, without interruption, and to understand whether mediation is likely to be suitable for your circumstances.

In addition, most applications to the Family Court relating to children or finances  require you to have attended a MIAM so whether or not you go on to mediate, attending the MIAM is an important first step.

Child and Parenting Mediation

This is the area of my work I care most deeply about. I am a parent myself — my four sons have taught me more about conflict resolution than any professional training course — and I understand how important it is for children to have both parents functioning well together, even after a relationship has ended. Child and parenting mediation focuses on helping you build the practical framework for that: where your children will live, how they will spend time with both parents,  how you will make decisions together about education and healthcare, and how you will navigate the inevitable complexity of co-parenting as your children grow and circumstances change.

Where it is appropriate — usually for children aged ten and above — I can also work with specialists in Child Inclusive Mediation to offer children a safe, structured opportunity to have their own perspective heard by a specially trained mediator, separate from their parents. In my experience, including children in this way tends to produce agreements that parents find more meaningful and that last longer — because they are grounded in what their children actually said they needed, not just what their parents assumed.

Financial Mediation

Financial mediation addresses the division of everything that has been built together: property, pensions, savings, investments and any ongoing financial obligations. It requires both parties to provide full financial disclosure. Agreements built on incomplete information are unlikely to endure. My job is to ensure both parties are working from the same picture and then to help them negotiate on that basis.

Winsford is a town where families work hard for what they have. The financial stakes in a separation may not always be as headline-grabbing as in some of Cheshire’s more affluent areas, but they are no less real — and handling them through mediation can be cheaper, quicker and less damaging to the co-parenting relationship than more confrontational choices.

Joint Financial Statement

Where financial matters are being addressed in mediation, I prepare a Joint Financial Statement — a clear, structured document that brings both parties’ disclosed financial information together and provides a foundation for the discussions.

Summary of Proposals

At the conclusion of a successful mediation, I prepare a Summary of Proposals documenting what has been agreed and an application can then be made to the court by your lawyer to convert this Summary into a legally binding Consent Order.

How the Process Works in Practice

People who come to me are often unsure about what mediation actually looks like day to day. Here is how the process typically unfolds.

  1. You contact me. You do not need your ex-partner’s agreement to do this — many people come to me before they have even mentioned mediation to their ex-partner, and I can advise on how to have that conversation.
  2. I arrange separate MIAMs with each of you — usually online, around an hour each.
  3. If mediation is suitable and both parties are willing to proceed, we agree a format for joint sessions. These can be online or in person, in the same room or, if that feels too difficult at this stage, in separate rooms with me moving between you.
  4. Joint sessions begin. Each typically lasts around 90 minutes. For child arrangements, two to three sessions usually covers what needs to be addressed. Financial matters often take longer, particularly where disclosure needs to be gathered and worked through carefully.
  5. Where finances are involved, I prepare a Joint Financial Statement once both parties have provided their disclosure documents.
  6. At the conclusion of mediation, I prepare a Summary of Proposals.
  7. Both parties take independent legal advice on the summary, and if you wish, a solicitor converts it into a legally binding consent order.

The process is flexible. Some people come to me having barely spoken to their ex-partner in months. Others are broadly in agreement but need help with the detail. I adapt to where you are, not to a fixed template.

About Elizabeth

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I’m Elizabeth, the founder of EAG Family Mediation, based in Cheshire. I qualified as a solicitor in 2001 and spent the early part of my career in commercial litigation before retraining as a family mediator. I have seen that mediation often produces better outcomes for people than the adversarial alternative.

Raising four sons gave me something that my legal training alone could not: a deep, practical understanding of how families actually work, how conflicts escalate when they are not handled well and how much better things go when both parties feel genuinely heard.

I am a member of the Family Mediators Association (FMA), registered with the Family Mediation Council (FMC), and conduct every mediation in accordance with the FMC’s Code of Conduct and Code of Practice. I am committed to ongoing professional development — this field evolves, and the people who trust me with their most difficult conversations deserve someone who keeps pace with that. You can read more about my background on the About page.

Frequently Asked Questions About Family Mediation in Winsford

I've never heard of mediation being used for separation — is it common?
Yes and for good reason. Since 2014, attending a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting has been a requirement before most Family Court applications in England and Wales. Beyond that requirement, mediation is now widely recognised as producing better outcomes than litigation in most family cases — particularly where children are involved. Research consistently shows that agreements reached through mediation are more durable than those imposed by a court, because both parties have been part of making them. I work with people at all stages of separation, from those who have only just decided to separate to those who have been in conflict for some time and are looking for a way out of it.
Does mediation work when communication between us has completely broken down?
This is one of the most common concerns people raise with me, and the honest answer is: yes, often it does. The structure of mediation — beginning with separate individual meetings, with the option to remain in separate rooms throughout joint sessions if needed — means that the two of you do not have to be able to communicate directly for the process to work. I am there to facilitate that communication, to manage the dynamic, and to keep the conversation productive. Some of the most successful mediations I have conducted have involved people who arrived barely able to be in the same building. The process creates a framework that makes conversation possible even when it feels impossible.
What happens to the agreement we reach — is it legally binding?
The Summary of Proposals I prepare at the end of mediation is not automatically legally binding — but it can be made so. For financial matters, a solicitor can use the summary to draft a consent order, which a court then approves. For child arrangements, a parenting plan based on what was agreed in mediation can similarly be formalised if both parties wish. Many couples find that a mediated agreement relating to children, reached voluntarily and with both parents’ input, is robust enough without being formally converted to a court order. I do, however, always recommend taking independent legal advice before or during decision making.
Can I use Legal Aid for mediation?
Legal Aid for family mediation is available in some circumstances, subject to eligibility. I do not offer legally aided mediation but if you think you may qualify, it is worth checking your eligibility before your Initial Assessment Meeting. Separately, the government’s Family Mediation Voucher Scheme provides eligible families with financial support towards the cost of mediation where child arrangements are the primary issue. I can access this voucher for you.
Do I need a solicitor as well as a mediator?
I always recommend that both parties take independent legal advice from their own solicitors before or during mediation, especially before it is formalised. I am not your legal adviser — I am an impartial facilitator — and it is important that you each have someone in your corner who has reviewed the agreement from your individual perspective.
What if we only agree on some things and not others?
Partial agreements are genuinely valuable and should not be dismissed as a failure. If mediation resolves the arrangements for your children but not the financial matters, that is still a significant achievement — it removes one major source of conflict and leaves both parties in a much better position to deal with what remains, whether through further mediation or through other means. I prepare a Summary of Proposals covering whatever has been agreed, and both parties retain the right to pursue unresolved matters through other routes.

Get in Touch

If you are based in Winsford or the surrounding area and are thinking about whether mediation could help your situation, I would encourage you to get in touch. You do not need to have made any decisions yet, and you do not need your ex-partner on board before contacting me. The first step is simply a conversation. Please visit my Contact page or reach out directly:

I look forward to hearing from you.