Paying for mediation

I have been invited to attend mediation but I am worried how I am going to pay for it.
I thought that due to living on a small occupational pension and having a very small amount of disposable income I would be entitled to legal aid.
According to the figures for income and disposable income I am definitely entitled to legal aid.
However, I have just learnt that I''m not entitled to legal aid due to the equity I have in the FMH.
I don''t have enough income to cover the cost of the mediation meetings.
Does that mean that I won''t be able to attend mediation and my divorce case will automatically go to court?
Seems strange that the FMH asset is taken into account for legal aid when the equity is tied up and is not a liquid asset.
I spoke to the mediation service today who said that mediation costs could be taken out of the house sale, but that''s not the case anymore.
I therefore seem to be in an impossible situation. I want to attend mediation but I can''t afford to.

I was in the same position - benefits income but own my home mortgage free so was not entitled.

I simply refused to attend as I couldn''t afford it.

I believe there is now a rule where if one party is entitled to free mediation the other party will get it too, but this is only for one session so I don''t know how useful it could be.

If your ex is not prepared to cover the cost and you cannot negotiate directly with them then yes it would have to end up in court.

Interestingly if you need to make a court application their fee remission disregards the value of the house you live in!

Thanks Luna for your reply.
My ex attended mediation last week but I don''t know if she had to pay or not. I will try to find out.

Regarding court application fee remission, this proves that the law is an illogical, self contradicting load of rubbish.

Why can''t you negotiate with him directly? Is he willing to negotiate with you face to face?

That is a very good point. My wife has already said: "You can keep your pension and everything else, I only want half of the proceeds from the house, I think that''s fair".
I am happy to accept her proposal so I am wondering why we need mediation to solve a dispute when there is no dispute.
Surely when there is full agrement and no dispute, mediation serves no purpose.
How can mediation solve a problem that doesn''t exist?

I am beginning to get the impression that the mediation service exists mainly for the sake of itself.

My wife won''t communicate with me directly, so we communicate via my eldest daughter which I suppose is ok.

Or you can make a without prejudice offer via your solicitor.

Once you have an agreement you still need to finalise the matter using solicitor to get a Consent Order. I know you don''t have money but it doesn''t cost a lot.