Resolution Accreditation
Separation is hard... It does not have to be a war.
When a relationship ends, the practical questions can pile up fast. Where will the children live? How do you split what you built together? What happens next?
Most people assume the answer is solicitors, negotiation, and eventually court. But that route takes time, costs a great deal, and often leaves both sides worse off than when they started. There is a better way.
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Who We Are
Meet Amanda and Richard
New Horizon Family Mediation was founded by Amanda Trappes-Lomax, a Resolution Accredited Family Mediator with over 25 years of experience in family law. Her husband Richard handles the day-to-day running of the practice, so Amanda can focus entirely on the families she works with.
In Amanda's Own Words...
"Hi, I'm Amanda. I have over 25 years of experience as a Divorce Lawyer. I have now started a Family Mediation service because I passionately believe that it's a better way of getting divorced and resolving both financial and children's matters."
Why We Started
Why Amanda Left Law to Start This
After more than two decades as a family lawyer, Amanda had seen every version of how separation can go. She had watched couples spend months, sometimes years, in court proceedings. She had seen legal costs consume the very assets families were fighting over. She had watched parents lose the ability to talk to each other, and children caught between them as a result.
She knew mediation worked. She had seen it resolve in weeks what litigation dragged out for years. So she made a decision. Rather than keep advising families inside a system she knew was failing them, she built a practice around an approach she believed in.
New Horizon exists because Amanda was not prepared to keep watching families go through something harder than it needed to be.
Qualifications and Professional Memberships
Qualifications
- Resolution Accredited Mediator
- Resolution Collaborative Lawyer
- Resolution Professional Practice Consultant (PPC)
- CILEX Family Lawyer, Institute of Chartered Legal Executives
When you work with New Horizon, you work with someone who has spent her entire career in family law and chose mediation because she genuinely believes it delivers better outcomes for families.
Hobbies
Amanda lives with her husband, Richard in the New Forest, where she regularly walks and cycles. She has recently taken up beekeeping and owns an apiary of 3 hives – so please feel free to ask her about the honey for sale and natural bees wax food wraps.
Recently, she has returned to her love of art and paints regularly with a group of artists – She dreams of having her own exhibition one day.
She loves the great outdoors, and has a particular love for water so enjoys all water sports and is never happier when in, on or by the sea.
Work
Amanda has been a Family Lawyer, Salisbury Divorce Lawyer and Collaborative Lawyer in private practice for over 25 years and qualified as a CILEX Family Lawyer with the Institute of Chartered Legal Executives.
Throughout her time in law, she has always chosen to specialize in Family Law. Amanda therefore has experience in the following; divorce and relationship breakdown, resolving financial matters, separation agreements, prenup agreements, occupation and non-molestation orders and all issues in relation to children.
Amanda is an Accredited Member of Resolution (formerly the Solicitors Family Law Association). This is a professional body for family lawyers who sign up to abide by the Resolution Code of Conduct that promotes dealing with client family matters in a non-contentious way
What Makes New Horizon Different
Every case is different
No two families are the same. Your situation, your priorities, and what matters most to you will shape how the process works. Amanda tailors each case to the people in front of her, not the other way around.
You control the pace
Mediation moves as fast as you need it to. Court cases often take over a year to reach a conclusion. With mediation, most families reach agreement in a fraction of that time, and on a timetable that works for them.
Speak to a real person
When you call New Horizon, a person answers. If you leave a message, you will hear back the same day. Amanda and Richard do not use automated systems or AI to manage client enquiries. Every contact is personal.
What We Help With
New Horizon assists with the full range of family mediation matters, including:
- Where the children will live and how much time they spend with each parent
- School choices and term-time arrangements when parents cannot agree
- Holiday contact, Christmas and Easter arrangements
- Relocation, when one parent wants to move and the other objects
- Financial matters arising from divorce or separation
- School fees and renegotiation of existing financial arrangements
- Separation agreements and prenuptial discussions
- Grandparent contact arrangements
If your situation is not on this list, call anyway. Amanda will tell you honestly whether mediation is the right route for you.
Trusted by Families Across the UK...
“Thank you Amanda for helping us both through this difficult time and helping us to consider all the options to help us both make better decisions for both our children and finances”
“My divorce had been very slow in reaching any agreement at all so I was signposted to Amanda who was wonderful. We had a consultation on line which I found to be both helpful, stress free and empowering. In the mist of all the jargon and documentation, here is a real person with real skills who wants to help . Thank you , Amanda”
“Amanda was great, very knowledgeable and caring. I believe she helped us so much we would not have been able to sort out our finances without her . Thanks again and I would recommend Amanda to anyone who needs mediation”
“We are so glad we chose family mediation and you, this enabled us to resolve matters more quickly and helped us save money”
“Amanda was incredibly proactive, helpful and professional when it came to my mediation process. I would highly recommend her to anyone who finds themselves in a difficult situation which requires mediation.”
“Amanda was very helpful and compassionate during all our sessions. Fair pricing for service.
Would recommend thank you Amanda”“Very pleased with the service provided, welcoming and fair approach to mediation – I highly recommend to anyone looking to start mediation for any reason”
“Amanda at New Horizon Family Mediation is breath of fresh air … her caring knowledgable professional approach is both comforting and positive. You can physically see her passion to help each person achieve a happy medium.”
“I found Amanda through a google search and beyond the website, she came across as an empathetic and experienced professional who helped me to find a resolution that was right for my personal situation. I would recommend her to anyone involved in a family issue”
What We Stand For
"Mediation: Helping you and your family to a better future"
Amanda and Richard built New Horizon around a simple belief: that people going through separation deserve to be treated with care, honesty, and respect. That means listening properly. It means being transparent about costs. It means never adding you to a marketing list or handing your enquiry to an automated system.
It means treating every client the way Amanda would want to be treated herself.
Every family that avoids court is a family that got to write their own agreement. That is what New Horizon is here for.
Get In Touch
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Learn More About Family Mediation
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