Arbitration – a further option for those who want to avoid court

There are an increasing number of divorcing couples, and those wanting to reach agreements about the care arrangements for their children, who are considering Arbitration as an alternative to the court process.

Arbitration is a process where you and your former partner will jointly appoint an independent arbitrator to make a decision on any financial and property matters, arising from the breakdown of your relationship or otherwise children related issues.  The arbitrator will make a decision that will be final and binding. This therefore has advantages over mediation where any agreement reached in mediation still needs to be transferred into a legally binding agreement. In the time it takes for this to be completed some agreements can fall down.

Arbitration has many advantages over the court process as it can resolve disputes more quickly and in a more flexible and less formal setting than a court room.  It is these advantages in particular which is making arbitration a more attractive prospect for some.  In choosing arbitration you are able to choose who the arbitrator is going to be and where and when the arbitration is to take place, neither of which you can control in the court process.

An arbitrator can also deal with one-off discrete issues, where for example you have been able to agree on all of the other finances except for one particular point for example, how pensions should be divided, as well as dealing with a detailed case from start to finish.

Being able to have a final and binding decision much more quickly than would be available through the court also makes this a much more cost effective option.

In July 2016 the new Children Arbitration Scheme was launched and the first arbitration has already taken place.  The scheme covers all private law or Children Act disputes between parents, including those with grandparents. There are some limitations as it does not cover those that have an international element, life-threatening medical treatment cases, and the arbitrators under the scheme are not able to meet with children directly.  The typical sort of cases expected to come to the arbitration scheme are likely to be disputes between parents about child arrangements or the exercise relevance of parental responsibility.

If you are interested in knowing more about how the arbitration process works and how we can advise and assist you through this please do contact us for further information.

If you have any queries about this article please contact jonesnickolds on 0203 405 2300 or contact@jonesnickolds.co.uk