Thank you for all your help, I felt you were completely impartial and professional at all times, and clear in making sure we both understood what was happening during the process. Setting up the mediation and challenging [my spouse] on certain issues was a huge step for me personally and I felt in a safe environment to be able to do this.
I am hugely grateful to Godalming Family Mediation for gently steering us towards an amicable resolution to our difficult family dispute. Euan was calm, impartial and listened carefully to help us understand the best possible outcome for all parties. Highly recommended.
Euan was always calm and helped diffuse awkward and potentially very stressful discussions. My husband and I could speak together with an independent person present and so tempers did not flare. He helped us understand the need for compromise was able to write a Memorandum of Understanding and a financial agreement that will hopefully be less costly in the long term. I would recommend mediation as a way of building bridges with your partner so that the divorce does not become acrimonious.
“Thank you for all your help. It has been an incredibly useful process”
“You were fantastic in helping me deal rationally with the issues and I really appreciated your calming presence during the meetings”
“We really appreciate all the help that you have given us throughout the process – it was a great way to reach a final settlement without the inevitable expense and impersonal dealings that would have happened with solicitors”
“I would like to thank you for your time on Saturday at the mediation session. I found the session very helpful and I believe you went through all of the information, protocols and possible routes with respect to separation / divorce, children and finances, in a very professional and clear manner.”
“I would like to say that your services have been outstanding.Very professional, patient,constructive, fair and equally supportive to both parties. I would be very willing to recommend your services. We are very fortunate to have found you!”
“Just to thank you for all your help and should mediation be necessary in the future, I shall recommend we return to you for more help!”
“It is a big relief not having to go to Court so thank you for your role. I am very grateful.”
“I have to say it was all handled very professionally on your part. I appreciated the contact you had with me to remind me about appointments. I also appreciated your swift response to any and all communications we had. I also appreciated how sensitive you were in dealing with the emotional side of the mediation…I would certainly recommend the process and I would of course recommend you if asked.”
“As for feedback, I’m not sure a process like this will ever be easy or pleasant, but I certainly appreciated the opportunity to sit in the same room with Mr C and hear the same advice/points put to us, which you did so effectively. It did help us come to a co-operative agreement, which will hopefully work for both of us and which was what we wanted.”
“I was referred to Godalming Family Mediation at the beginning of the year and cannot fault the professionalism of the guidance we received. Euan brought clarity, attentiveness and sensible thinking to meetings that were on occasions highly charged with emotion and stress. As a result, my ex-husband and I have been able to reach an amicable agreement on the financial settlement of our marriage at a very moderate cost in comparison to escalating legal costs.”
“My experience of mediation with Euan Davidson was the importance of having someone with a level head when emotions were running high. Euan was able to calm things down several times with sensitivity and clarity. Divorce is hard enough emotionally without trying to work out the complexities of unwinding a long marriage and he helped both of us to navigate that. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend mediation. It has certainly saved both of us a substantial sum of money compared to if we had gone the purely legal route.”
“You provided an excellent service. It is always going to be an emotionally fraught experience but you provided just the right balance of logic/reason and empathy to every point raised for discussion. I’d definitely recommend you in the future, but I’d urge anyone to start the mediation process much sooner than we did.”
“In our particular case, we had already agreed that a straight forward split of assets was fair and sensible, with additional consideration / provision of child maintenance in line with the law and fair spousal maintenance based on agreed need. Mediation was helpful in that rather than using two separate lawyers who would by definition and at enormous expense to both parties, drive the “best deal” for their individual client, mediation provided a single point of arbitration to ensure both parties were not being unreasonable or in a positive sense, acting as a single person to assess reasonableness for both parties. Whilst not wishing to make disparaging remarks about the legal profession, an individual lawyer representing an individual client has only the interests of billable hours and their client in mind, at the expense of the third party and ultimately in effect, their client (the “pot” to share much reduced as it is turned into legal fees) – a very poor way to settle a dispute where only the lawyers ultimately win. In our case, even having delivered a mediated agreement, individual lawyers still managed to make seemingly huge charges for what appeared to be a cut and paste exercise from mediated settlement onto standard court forms. I appreciate that the courts wish to see that both parties are individually represented however feel sorry about my experience with lawyer (bad) compared with experience of mediator (good) in what is a very difficult time.”
Euan’s calm and pragmatic approach helped diffuse the tension in our discussions which enabled us to reach an agreement that we both felt comfortable with. We wouldn’t have been able to progress as quickly or easily without his help which became invaluable”.
“Euan is an excellent mediator. At first, I was very apprehensive as I did not know what will happen. Through Euan’s patience, empathetic listening ability, calmness, understanding, preparation and seeing it from all parties sides in a sincere way, we found common ground and were able to find a way that worked for all parties without going into the demystified legal process and incurring huge sums of money as well as emotional distress. Instead, we were able to go through the process, my kids can still remain in their stable home, my wife and I parted as ‘friends’ (or close to it) rather than enemies and I have a fabulous relationship with my children whom I love very much. That is the sign of a great mediator. Thank you Euan.”
The truth is the Separation and divorce has been a disaster for me. Having said that I know it would have been a great deal worse had it involved separate lawyers and court proceedings. So in avoiding that fate I would like to say how grateful I am to you and the mediation process.”
Both my spouse and I were pleased with the support, understanding and empathy we received from Euan Davidson. The sessions helped us reach a settlement without lawyers and in a more collaborative and less adversarial style. Separating is always emotional and stressful and going through lawyers first didn’t make sense. The savings on legal costs could be put into a secured account for the kids future. I totally endorse mediation and have hesitation in recommending Godalming Family Mediation.