If both parties are willing, they can agree to engage in the arbitration process in which a nominated arbitrator will make binding decisions concerning the matters they do not agree on. Arbitration can be used no matter how big or small the disagreement. It is helpful in resolving the wide-ranging issues which come up during a divorce settlement and can also determine narrower points such as maintenance variation.
You and your partner appoint a family arbitrator, who will make a decision that will be final and binding between the parties. Like a judge in court, a family arbitrator ensures relevant facts and pieces of evidence are collected in order to make a decision based on this evidence. The arbitrator will also consider your views on what the outcome should be, as well as those of your partner. The arbitrator’s final decision is a binding ruling, known as an “award” in relation to finance and a “determination” for children cases.
Arbitration enables couples going through family breakdown to resolve disputes more quickly, confidentially and in a more flexible and less formal setting than a courtroom.
Arbitration can help you come to an agreement on:
Arbitration can help in dealing with the following:
Family Arbitration is a lot quicker in reaching a conclusion (the Award or Determination) than the Court system which is encountering enormous and increasing delays.
You can choose the venue, the dates and times of meetings. You can choose the Arbitrator and you can also decide what the Arbitrator does need to make a decision about and what he or she does not (for example, if there are only one or two issues that remain to be resolved and everything else has been agreed).
If the issue which is to be decided is clear then an Arbitrator can even make a decision by seeing all the relevant papers without the parties being present if that is agreed.
The location and timing of the hearings are flexible. Interim hearings can take place by telephone, Skype or video link at times convenient to the parties and their lawyers. They are not dictated by the Court process.
While there are restrictions on what the press can report if hearings take place in Court, the media have no access to arbitration hearings at all.
The same Arbitrator will deal with matters from beginning to end. Rarely, if ever, does the same Judge deal with cases in a similar way.
The Arbitration Award is binding on both parties in the same way as a Court Order. Once an Award has been made the Court will make an Order in the same terms as that Award.
Although the Arbitrator’s fees will need to be provided for, because the process is so much quicker than the Court system invariably there are substantial overall savings.
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