Non-Court Dispute Resolution (NCDR) is not something new but it is certainly a method to resolve disputes in family matters that is growing and will continue to grow. It is also known as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). It forms a number of different areas such as mediation, collaborative law or even Arbitration, all of which are offered by Gardner Leader LLP. It is a viable alternative court proceedings to resolve disputes.
Why NCDR?
NCDR has a strong success rate, for example it is reported some 80% of matters referred to Mediation are resolved in that forum. This avoids expensive and lengthy contested court proceedings. The costs savings are huge, for example in a survey of 142 major companies in the USA it was estimated that they saved more than $100 million in legal costs in a single year by using ADR/NCDR.
The Family Proceedings Rules are clear in that NCDR must be considered and duly encouraged in family disputes. For example, unless a specific exemption applies, you cannot commence financial remedy court proceedings without first referring the matter to mediation. There can also be cost penalties and delays in court proceedings if NCDR has not been considered. Therefore, it is not just something that is just robustly encouraged it is something that should really should be the preferred option in all disputes.
The Advantages of NCDR
There are many advantages of NCDR and these can be summarised below:
- The parties are assisted by a neutral facilitator and the processes do not always merely amount to negotiation, which tends not to be structured at all, or to another means of compromise.
- The process is within the parties’ control, not just in relation to form and process, but also choice of neutral facilitator, and speed, timing and content, and to some extent outcome
- The parties may agree that the process is private and confidential
- The processes are flexible, and non-legalistic in approach, and allow an outcome which is not necessarily obtainable in a contested court proceedings.
- The processes are comparatively quicker and cheaper than court proceedings.
- Sometimes parties want their ‘day in court’ which needs to be balance against the extensive cost, trauma and potential publicity of a hearing in open court.
- The processes can be adapted to suit multi-party disputes without necessarily becoming cumbersome.
- They neither require nor preclude the presence of lawyers or other professional advisers to assist the parties on the day.
- If the NCDR process does not result in settlement of the dispute, a party may, if appropriate, pursue their claim by means of court proceedings. So that option is never taken away.
In all circumstances NCDR should be considered as a first point of call. At Gardner Leader LLP we have trained Mediators, Collaborative Lawyer and Arbitrator to help resolve such disputes without going to court. To discuss NCDR please contact Simon Fisher.