on Tuesday, 30 July 2024.
Mediation is a voluntary and confidential form of non-court dispute resolution and can be used to resolve a range of disputes for example, financial issues or child arrangements. The mediation process is flexible and involves you and your former spouse or partner meeting with a trained mediator to discuss and hopefully agree a resolution.
Mediation is less formal than court. If an agreement is reached during mediation, it can, if you both agree, be sent to the court to be made legally binding.
It is important to know that mediators cannot provide you with legal advice, so it is advisable to seek advice from a solicitor during the mediation process. It may also be appropriate to seek advice from other professionals, for example pension experts, occupational health experts or financial advisers.
Early Neutral Evaluations or Private Financial Dispute Resolution Hearings (PFDRs) allow separating couples to hire a 'judge' or a neutral evaluator privately for a day to hear your case and provide an indication of the likely outcome should you proceed to a final hearing at court. Throughout the day, you and your former spouse or partner are actively encouraged to negotiate an agreement between yourselves.
Much like a Court Financial Dispute Resolution Hearing (FDR), an Early Neutral Valuation or PFDR is 'without prejudice', which means that nothing said or heard during the Early Neutral Evaluation will be heard by a Court, if Court proceedings are later issued. If you cannot reach an agreement, you will not be bound by the negotiations or indications made during the Early Neutral Evaluation or Private FDR.
Early Neutral Evaluations / PFDR are gaining popularity in England and Wales due to the Court backlogs. Separating couples can expect to wait (from the date of application) at least 9 months for formal FDRs to be listed in court whereas Early Neutral Evaluations can be arranged much sooner at a time and date convenient for you.
Early Neutral Evaluations can be held in a solicitor's office, barristers chambers or conference facility. This can help alleviate some of the pressure and high stress that a courtroom can inevitably bring.
Unlike with Early Neutral Evaluations, PFDRs or mediation (not concluded with a binding court order), a family law arbitrator will give a legally binding decision. Arbitrators can make decisions on both financial and children matters.
You are able to choose your arbitrator which many find helpful as it gives them an element of control in the process. Arbitrators are experienced family law professionals with extensive experience. By attending an arbitration rather than issuing court proceedings, you are able to avoid the court backlogs and the arbitrator can provide your case the time that it warrants. Arbitration is confidential and can happen in a venue of your choosing, rather than in a court room.
As an independent party, the arbitrator will review all the relevant information and hear from each of you and to come to a final decision.
It is important to remember that an arbitrator's decision is final and legally binding, so it may be worth considering other options of resolving issues between yourselves before instructing an arbitrator.
As mentioned above, aside from obtaining legal advice it is important to consider working collaboratively with other professionals who can assist with your separation, for example:
Pension experts can provide a detailed report on your pension/s and any pension/s your former spouse may have. A pension report can outline how best the pension pot could be divided to achieve fairness. Your legal advisor can recommend pension experts and help you to instruct them.
Financial experts such as Independent financial advisors can help to provide you with an overall picture of your financial assets and what you can do to maximise your financial position post-divorce or separation.
Family consultants and coaches can provide emotional and practical support when you are going through a divorce or separation. Family consultants and coaches can also be incredibly helpful in helping you best support your children.
Parenting Coordinators can help you with deciding and implementing child arrangements, especially if you are finding this difficult to discuss with your former spouse or partner.