There is growing change in family court proceedings. We have seen a real change in recent years with a movement towards non court based dispute resolution also known as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
What is Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)?
ADR is a means to resolve matters without court proceedings. It can be either through mediation or other non court based processes with the emphasis on resolving disputes without using the courts.
ADR changes
These developments have been in family law proceedings for some time with the obligation to refer to mediation before any court proceedings unless there is a specified exemption. This growing movement towards ADR will not only help families resolve matters without expensive and lengthy court proceedings but also help future relationships between the parties and ease the burden on the overwhelmed court system.
A further change that came into place on 29 April 2024 was an amendment to depart from the general starting point that there should be no order as to costs. This means that the court may take the parties’ conduct in relation to attending non-court dispute resolution into account when considering whether to make an order for costs in relation to the proceedings. This is a real shift that parties cannot unreasonably refuse to use ADR and there will be cost consequences.
It is also worth noting the current rules in family proceedings outline the reference to ‘attend’ ADR rather than ‘engage.’ However, it remains to be seen if this will change in Family proceedings as the courts adopt a more rigorous approach to using ADR.
Our ADR services
At Gardner Leader we offer ADR services. Suzy Hamshaw is both an experienced family lawyer who is also a fully trained mediator. Many of our lawyers are members of Resolution, an organisation that encourages the use of non court based options. Our lawyers are committed to ADR and have experience in mediation, arbitration, collaborative law and other private non court based procedures. We are committed to resolving matters in a non court based way as much as possible.
If you wish to discuss a non court based resolution to your family issue then please contact Suzy Hamshaw here or alternatively find out more about our family services here.