MIAM exemptions: who does not need one
Key facts
- Exemptions from the MIAM requirement are set out in Family Procedure Rules Part 3 and Practice Direction 3A.
- The main categories are domestic abuse, child protection, urgency, a previous MIAM within four months, and practical barriers such as prison or an untraceable ex.
- You claim an exemption on the court form itself, and the court can ask you to back it up.
- The rules were tightened from 29 April 2024, and the distance-based exemptions now assume online MIAMs are available.
- If an exemption is not validly claimed, the court can direct you to attend a MIAM and adjourn your case.
The MIAM requirement was never meant to catch everyone. Parliament recognised that some cases are too urgent, too unsafe or simply too impractical for a mediation meeting to come first, so the rules carry a list of exemptions. If one genuinely applies to you, you can tick the relevant box on your C100 or Form A and apply to court straight away, without attending the meeting described in our guide to what a MIAM is.
The word genuinely is doing real work in that sentence. Since April 2024 the courts have scrutinised claimed exemptions more closely, and getting it wrong delays your case rather than speeding it up. This page sets out each exemption in plain English, and what evidence or detail you may need.
How claiming an exemption works
There is no separate exemption application. The C100 and Form A each contain a section listing the exemption categories, and you tick the one that applies and give supporting details. You do not usually attach evidence when you apply, but you must hold it, because rule 3.10 of the Family Procedure Rules allows the court to look behind the claim when the application is first reviewed.
If the court is not satisfied, it can direct you to attend a MIAM after all and adjourn the proceedings until you have. So an invalid exemption does not get your application thrown out, but it does cost you time, and it starts your case with a judge wondering about your judgement. If you are not sure whether the requirement applies to your application at all, start with do you need a MIAM before court.
The exemption categories at a glance
The table below groups the exemptions in Practice Direction 3A into plain-English categories. The precise wording in the rules is longer and more technical, so treat this as a map rather than the legal text itself.
| Category | In plain English |
|---|---|
| Domestic abuse | You have specified evidence of domestic abuse by the other person, such as a police, court, health or support-service record. |
| Child protection | A child in the application is subject to local authority child protection enquiries, a child protection plan, or related proceedings. |
| Urgency | Delay would create a risk to life, liberty or physical safety, a risk of harm to a child, a risk of a child being unlawfully taken from or kept outside the UK, or other serious irreversible harm such as assets being disposed of. |
| Previous MIAM or NCDR | You attended a MIAM, or a valid exemption applied, in the four months before the application, about the same or substantially the same dispute. |
| Consent and without-notice applications | The order is being applied for by agreement, or the application is properly made without telling the other person first. |
| Circumstances of the other person | The other person is in prison or on bail or licence conditions preventing contact with you, lacks capacity, cannot be traced, or is not habitually resident in England and Wales. |
| Your own circumstances | You cannot attend for equivalent reasons, for example imprisonment, lack of capacity, or not being habitually resident, or you are a child making the application. |
| Mediator availability | You cannot attend a MIAM online or by video link, and no authorised mediator is available within the distance and time limits the rules set. |
Domestic abuse: the most used exemption
The domestic abuse exemption applies where you have evidence of abuse by the other prospective party, from a list the rules set out in detail. Accepted evidence includes police and criminal justice records (an arrest, caution, charge or conviction for a domestic abuse offence), protective court orders such as a non-molestation order, and letters from health professionals, local authorities or domestic abuse support services confirming abuse or a referral.
Because this exemption has its own evidence rules and its own sensitivities, we cover it separately and fully on domestic abuse evidence and the MIAM exemption. It is also worth knowing that abuse does not automatically rule mediation out if you want to try it with safeguards in place; our page on domestic abuse and mediation explains how that decision is made.
Child protection and urgency
The child protection exemption applies where a child who would be the subject of the application is currently the subject of enquiries by a local authority under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, or is the subject of a child protection plan. The thinking is straightforward: where social services are actively involved in protecting a child, a mediation meeting should not delay the court.
Urgency is the exemption most often misunderstood. It is not for cases that feel urgent to you, which is nearly all of them. The rules define it as risk to life, liberty or physical safety of you, your family or your household, risk of harm to a child, risk of a child being unlawfully removed from the UK or unlawfully retained overseas, or a risk that delay would cause a miscarriage of justice, unreasonable hardship, or irretrievable problems such as the loss or disposal of assets.
If a genuinely urgent situation involves a child being taken abroad, GOV.UK has specific guidance on taking a child abroad and abduction risk, and you should take legal advice quickly rather than waiting for any meeting.
The four-month rule and previous attempts
If you attended a MIAM in the four months before making your application, about the same or substantially the same dispute, you do not need another one. The same applies if a valid exemption existed when you made a previous application in that window, or if you are applying within existing, ongoing proceedings where the requirement was already dealt with.
This is the exemption that makes the system workable in practice. You attend a MIAM, try mediation, and if it breaks down three months in, you can apply to court without going back for a second meeting. The mediator’s signed confirmation on your form serves as your proof. What that looks like step by step is covered in what happens after a MIAM.
Practical exemptions: prison, capacity, overseas and untraceable
A cluster of exemptions deals with situations where a MIAM, or any later mediation, could not realistically happen. If the other person is in prison, or subject to bail or licence conditions that prevent contact with you, the requirement is lifted. The same applies where either of you lacks the mental capacity to take part, where the applicant or all respondents are not habitually resident in England and Wales, or where you have no way of contacting the other person at all.
There is also an exemption where the applicant is a child, and one for bankruptcy in certain financial applications. These are narrow and rarely used, but they exist so the rule never forces an impossible meeting.
The mediator availability exemption deserves a special mention because it changed in April 2024. It used to be based purely on distance to a mediator’s office. Now that MIAMs are routinely conducted by video, the exemption only helps if you cannot attend online or by video link and no authorised mediator is available within the rules’ distance and waiting-time limits. In practice it is now very hard to claim, since online MIAMs are offered almost everywhere.
An application for a financial order by consent is exempt from the MIAM requirement, and it carries a much lower court fee too: £62 as of 13 July 2026, compared with £321 for a contested financial application. Reaching agreement before applying saves on both fronts.
The April 2024 tightening
On 29 April 2024, amendments to Family Procedure Rules Part 3 and Practice Direction 3A came into force as part of a wider push towards non-court dispute resolution. For exemptions, three changes matter. First, the wording of several exemptions was tightened, and applicants are expected to give more supporting detail on the form rather than a bare tick. Second, the availability exemptions were rewritten around online attendance, as described above. Third, courts were given a clearer mandate to test exemptions at the gatekeeping stage and to direct a MIAM where a claim does not stand up.
The same reform package introduced the FM5 form, on which parties state their views about non-court dispute resolution before the first hearing, and opened the door to costs orders in financial cases against parties who refuse to engage without good reason. Even a validly exempt applicant may later be asked whether some form of NCDR could be attempted, so an exemption is a doorway into court, not a permanent pass from considering alternatives. See the FM5 form and costs orders for refusing NCDR for the detail.
Exempt but still interested in mediation?
An exemption removes the obligation, not the option. Plenty of people who could claim urgency or the four-month rule still choose mediation because it remains quicker and less expensive than contested proceedings, and it keeps decisions about your children and money with you rather than a judge. A mediation service will welcome an enquiry whether or not the law requires you to make it.
Where safety is the concern, the choice is more finely balanced and always yours. Adapted formats such as shuttle mediation, separate arrival times and online sessions exist precisely for these cases, and a mediator will only proceed if satisfied it is safe. The starting point for that decision is an honest conversation at a MIAM, or a look at our guide to when mediation is not suitable.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to send evidence with my exemption claim?
Usually not at the point of applying: you tick the exemption on the C100 or Form A and give the details the form asks for. But you must be able to produce supporting evidence if the court asks, and since April 2024 courts check claims more actively, so never claim an exemption you cannot back up.
What happens if my exemption is rejected?
The court will not dismiss your application, but under rule 3.10 it can direct you to attend a MIAM and adjourn the case until you have. That typically adds weeks or months of delay. In financial cases, unreasonably avoiding a MIAM or mediation can also count against you on costs.
Is there still an exemption if there is no mediator near me?
Only in rare cases. Since April 2024 the availability exemption assumes you can attend a MIAM online or by video link, so distance alone is no longer enough. You would need to show you cannot attend remotely and that no authorised mediator is available within the limits the rules set.
Does an exemption mean I will never have to consider mediation?
No. An exemption lets you issue your application without a MIAM, but the court can still explore non-court dispute resolution later, adjourn proceedings for it, and expects both parties to state their views on an FM5 form. Where it is safe and appropriate, the question of mediation tends to return.
My case feels urgent. Can I use the urgency exemption?
Only if it meets the legal definition: risk to life, liberty or physical safety, risk of harm to a child, risk of unlawful removal from the UK, or serious irreversible consequences such as assets being disposed of. Distress and frustration, however real, do not qualify, and courts do check.
Sources
- Practice Direction 3A, Family Procedure Rules, the full list of MIAM exemptions and the accepted domestic abuse evidence (accessed July 2026).
- Family Procedure Rules, Part 3, rules 3.8 to 3.10 on exemptions and the court’s power to direct a MIAM, as amended in April 2024 (accessed July 2026).
- Children and Families Act 2014, section 10, the statutory basis for the MIAM requirement and its exceptions (accessed July 2026).
- Children Act 1989, including section 47 enquiries underpinning the child protection exemption (accessed July 2026).
- GOV.UK: family court fees (EX50), the consent order and contested financial order fees quoted as of 13 July 2026.
- GOV.UK: permission to take a child abroad, guidance relevant to the unlawful removal limb of the urgency exemption (accessed July 2026).