Most of us are getting ready for Christmas, sorting out presents, and generally hoping that the hard slog of the last couple of months or so will be worth it when we join with family and loved ones to celebrate. For lots of people, Christmas is a difficult time.

This may be the first year without a loved one, or the end of a year where the break up of a relationship is being contemplated. The media always pick up on the fact that January is one of the busiest times of the year for family lawyers. However, what they don’t see is the heartache, and resolve that it has taken for people to realise that their relationship is over.

Christmas can often be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Whilst everyone tries to be jolly and have a lovely time at Christmas, for those whose relationship is struggling, the never ending round of relatives and forced jollity can bring relationships to breaking point.

For some however, it’s a positive resolution to do something about their situation. The idea of making a New Year’s resolution about a relationship is sometimes quite cathartic.

For most people going through a relationship breakdown, there does come a turning point when they start looking forward and not back. They start wanting to make some decisions about how their future looks, and not concentrate on what when wrong or who was to blame.

For those people, mediation is a really good way of sorting out arrangements for children or finances. It means that the couple are taking control about the way that they want to separate. They make the decisions. There may be some really difficult decisions to make, but at least they aren’t being imposed by a judge, who doesn’t know them, or their children.

If you do want to get in touch with us, please contact Vicky Medd, our mediator, to discuss it in more detail on 01484 538421.