Difference between revisions of "Family Law Arbitration"

Arbitration is a dispute resolution process in which the parties hire a neutral third party, a family law arbitrator, to make a decision resolving their dispute that they agree they will be bound by. While the job of a mediator is to help two people work towards a solution that they make for themselves, the arbitrator's job is to act like a judge and impose a resolution, after hearing the evidence and listening to the arguments of each party.

This page provides an introduction to arbitration and discusses when to use arbitration in a family law dispute. This page also provides some suggestions about how to find a family law arbitrator.

#it allows a couple to hand-pick the particular person who will make decisions about the issues they cannot agree on, which means that they might pick an arbitrator who has a special expertise in, for example, the care of children, tax problems or property issues,

When a couple agrees to arbitrate their dispute — you can't force someone into arbitration, it has to be voluntary — they first pick their arbitrator and then meet with the arbitrator to discuss the process leading to the arbitration hearing and pick their rules. Most of the time, the rules people select are the more important parts of the Supreme Court Family Rules relating to evidence, experts and procedure at trial.

Next, the parties will exchange the documents and information that are relevant to their dispute. If child support is an issue, for example, Financial Statements might be prepared and documents like income tax returns, T4 slips and paystubs might be exchanged. If the parties cannot agree on how a child should be cared for, they might hire a psychologist to prepare a report on the parenting arrangements that will work best for the child, called a ''needs of the child assessment'', or they might hire a third party lawyer or a social worker to talk to the child and prepare a ''views of the child report''. The nature of the documents that are important and the extent of the disclosure which is required will change depending on the circumstances and how the parties decide to approach their dispute.

Once the documents have been exchanged and any reports have been prepared, the parties will attend one or more hearings with their arbitrator. These hearings take place in the arbitrator's office and are usually less formal than court hearings; there can be as much flexibility to the arbitration process as the parties and the arbitrator will agree to. At these hearings, each party presents their evidence, which may include witnesses who give testimony or may be limited to documents and affidavits, and then makes arguments to show the arbitrator why he or she should make a particular decision.

After hearing process is over, the arbitrator will provide a written decision, called an ''award'', summarizing the evidence, resolving all of the issues and explaining why the arbitrator resolved the issues in the way he or she resolved them.

Parenting coordinators are also restricted in the scope of the things they can make decisions about. Under s. 6(3) and (4)(a)(ix) of the [http://canlii.ca/t/8rdx Family Law Act Regulation], parenting coordinators can make determinations about parenting arrangements, contact with a child and other issues agreed to by the parties and the parenting coordinator. However, regardless of whatever the parties and the parenting coordinator may have agreed to, a parenting coordinator cannot make decisions about:

*subjects that excluded by an order or a parenting coordination agreement,

Only a few circumstances make arbitration a necessary choice over mediation, collaborative settlement processes or court. Typically, a couple will choose arbitration if:

This is the hard part about arbitrating family law disputes, as there aren't too many arbitrators who specialize in family law issues. Your first and best bet is to contact organizations which specialize in training or setting practice standards for family law arbitrators, such as:

==Page resources and links==