• Where relevant, we ask you both to provide complete and accurate disclosure of all your financial circumstances, with supporting documents. We do not verify the completeness and accuracy of the information provided, but you will be asked to sign and date a statement confirming you have made full disclosure. If it emerges that full disclosure has not been made, any agreement based on incomplete information can be set aside and the issues re-opened.
• Your financial information is provided on an open basis, which means that it is available to your legal advisers and can be referred to in court, either in support of an application made with your joint consent or in contested proceedings. This avoids any need for the information to be provided twice.
• The actual discussions about possible terms of settlement are understood by you to be legally privileged. This means that your discussions about the issues between you and proposals for settlement cannot be referred to in court unless you both agree. But, if you have been referred to mediation by the court, you may be asked to agree to waive this legal privilege, so that the court can be informed of any proposals for settlement.
• You each agree not to call the mediator to give evidence in court or require them to produce their files or notes in any court proceedings.
• The mediator will draw up a written summary of your proposals for settlement (legally privileged) and, where appropriate, "open" summaries of your finances. These summaries help each of you to obtain independent legal advice before entering into a legally binding agreement.

Mediators have a professional duty of confidentiality, with exceptions:

• Where any person (particularly a child) is at risk of serious harm, we have a duty to contact the appropriate authorities.
• Where we are required to make disclosure to the appropriate government authority under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and/or relevant money laundering regulations. We may also be under a linked obligation to make such disclosure without informing you and may have to discontinue the mediation without further notice. Exceptionally, we may disclose personal data in connection with the alleged or established commission of an unlawful act.
• We are "processors" of personal data for the purposes of data protection law. You consent to our processing your personal data for the purposes of this Agreement to Mediate, including retaining and storing your personal data for as long as is necessary in connection with this agreement. We may retain data for research and statistical purposes, but only once it has been stripped of all features from which you could be personally identified.
• Our practice's quality assurance standards require us to monitor our mediation files. Periodically, our practice supervisors may have sight of files, but access is strictly controlled and on a similar confidential basis.
• If either of you were to pursue a complaint against the mediator, your file may be disclosed to another person in Prime Resolution in accordance with our complaints procedure, or to the appropriate body should the complaint be taken further. By signing this document, you agree to information contained in your file being released to an external Professional Practice Consultant, or to the Family Mediation Council, for the purpose of external investigation relating to a complaint.
• At the end of each session, unless you state otherwise, the mediator will send copies of any Record of Mediation, Summary of Mediation, Summary of Proposals or Open Summary of Financial Information to each of your solicitors, to enable you to take advice on the proposals you have made.

If you have a concern about our mediation practice, you should initially contact your mediator, who will follow our internal complaints procedure.

If you remain dissatisfied with the way your complaint has been handled, you have the right to pursue your concerns via the Family Mediation Council (FMC) complaints procedure.

We work in accordance with the FMC code of practice at all times and will be concerned to ensure that you are both able to be involved in the mediation process without feeling at risk of threat or harm. We ask that you inform us if you have concerns about your ability to negotiate freely.