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Difference between revisions of "Family Law Arbitration"

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Family Law Arbitration (view source)

Revision as of 22:53, 18 April 2023

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Otherwise, the parties and their arbitrator are free to be as creative as they want and create the rules and the process that are best-suited to the parties, their children, their dispute, their timeline, and their budget.
Otherwise, the parties and their arbitrator are free to be as creative as they want and create the rules and the process that are best-suited to the parties, their children, their dispute, their timeline, and their budget.


===Changing and appealing awards===
===Changing, cancelling and appealing awards===


There are only two ways you can get your family law problem into arbitration.
If you are unhappy with an arbitrator's decision, you might be able to ''appeal'' the arbitrator's award, in the same way that a decision of the Provincial Court can be appealed to the Supreme Court, and a decision of the Supreme Court can be appealed to the Court of Appeal. When you appeal an award, you are arguing that the arbitrator made an important mistake and that, as a result of the arbitrator's mistake, all or some of their award should be cancelled.


First, you might have a family law agreement — like a cohabitation agreement, a marriage agreement, or a separation agreement — which says that any disputes or questions about the agreement, or the subjects the agreement covers, will be resolved through arbitration.
There are other reasons why you might ask that an award be cancelled, usually because of flaws in the arbitration process itself. You would only apply to cancel an award you're unhappy with. If you're happy with the award, you're not likely to be concerned about the fairness of the arbitration process.


Second, you might agree, after a problem has arisen, that you'll go to arbitration instead of going to court, or instead of another process like mediation or collaborative negotiation. You can even agree to resolve a dispute through arbitration after a court proceeding has started. A lot of people decide to do this when they find out how far away their trial is scheduled to start, and when they find out that there's no guarantee that they'll get a judge who is an expert in resolving family law disputes.
On the other hand, you might have an award that you're happy with, but no longer works because there's been an important change in your circumstances, the circumstances of the other party or the circumstances of the children. If there has been an important change, you can apply to court to ''vary'' the award, in the same way that the court can vary a court order.


You cannot force someone into arbitration, including by asking for a court order that you go to arbitration. Even though section 224(1) of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' says that "a court may make an order to ... require the parties to participate in family dispute resolution," the court will not make an order that someone go to arbitration. Resolving a dispute through arbitration has to be voluntary, either because you've already agreed to use arbitration ''if'' a problem comes up or because you've agreed to use arbitration ''after'' the problem has come up.
====Changing awards====
 
Under section 19.18(3) of the [[Family Law Act]], you can apply to the Supreme Court to change, suspend or cancel all or some of an arbitrator's award when there has been an imoprtant change in circumstances after the award was made. This is called "varying" an award.  
 
You can apply to vary an award on the same terms as you can apply to vary a court order.


===Other uses of arbitration===
===Other uses of arbitration===
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