This week (28 November – 2 December) is ‘Good Divorce Week 2022’, an annual campaign by Resolution, the community of family justice professionals who work with families to resolve issues in a constructive fashion.
The purpose of the campaign is to encourage couples to deal with their divorce in a way that reduces conflict to a minimum.
Each year the campaign has a particular focus. This year the campaign highlights the crisis in the family courts, and raises awareness of all the different ways families can resolve their disputes away from court, where it is safe and appropriate to do so.
The family courts are certainly in crisis. Just recently HM Courts & Tribunals Service published figures showing that the backlog of cases in the family court now exceeds 110,000 cases.
The figures also showed that the number of open private law cases (i.e. cases not involving social services) stood at 85,706 in August, and that the average time for these cases to be dealt with was 43 weeks.
Clearly, these shocking figures make it even more important that divorcing couples avoid going to court, if at all possible.
And this is where the second part of this year’s campaign comes in: how to resolve disputes away from court.
Obviously, the best way to avoid court is to agree matters through negotiation.
But of course that is not always possible, in which case there are other options.
One such option is mediation, whereby the couple agree to refer their dispute (whether about arrangements for children or finances) to a trained mediator, who will help them try to resolve the dispute by agreement.
Another option is arbitration, whereby the couple agree to refer their dispute to a qualified arbitrator who will decide the dispute for them, and to be bound by the arbitrator’s decision. Arbitration is therefore similar to court proceedings, but much quicker.
Whatever route you choose to avoid court, Family Law Cafe can help. Working with you on our digital platform, we can assist you in reaching an agreed settlement, or we can advise and guide you through mediation or arbitration.
For more information, call us on 020 3904 0506, or click here, and fill in the form.
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Family Law Cafe’s accessible team of legal experts from various disciplines expedites the customer’s case and keeps them informed and in control 24/7 through a unique and secure online portal. Family Law Cafe is your start-point for getting matters sorted with strategy, support and security.
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