Alternatives Routes to Avoid the Family Courts for Separation and Divorce

• Posted onSeptember 27, 2024

When you separate or your family life changes, there is a lot to think about at a time when you may also be dealing with your own emotions and worries about the future. Most people would prefer not to have to worry about costly court proceedings and dual solicitors fees to work things out.

Court proceedings can take a long time, can sometimes make already fragile relationships worse and may result in outcomes that simply do not work for you or for your family. Although court proceedings can be important and necessary in some circumstances, they are generally a last resort and should really be a last resort.

Alternative Methods for Resolving Disputes to Advoid the Family Courts

Alterative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is a term given to various ways of resolving disputes other than by taking the case to the Family Court. These can often be less intrusive and work at a pace that works for you. Set out below are some examples of alternatives that the team at WSP Solicitors are specialists in and can help you with.

Mediation as a Collaborative Solution to Avoid the Family Courts

Mediation is an informal way of reaching proposals together about the future. It involves meeting with your former partner and with a mediator who is trained to help you both look at how you might reach a solution that works for both of you.

Mediators are neutral and impartial, and work with you to facilitate and assist you in dsiscussing a way forward and trying to reach decisions together. They can help you to establish together what is important to agree and help you in coming to decisions together.

Mediators can provide you with information, including information about the principles of the law, and they will ensure that they spot when it will be important for you to have individual legal advice to support you and especially once you have reached a set of proposals that you would like to turn into a binding agreement. Mediators however cannot give you legal advice. Thit role is to facilitate and assist fair and reasonable discussions.

There are also Child Inclusive mediators who are trained to talk with children and young people directly, to help them to share their thoughts and views and to decide what they would like their parents to think about.  Child inclusive mediators are careful to reassure any child or young person that they are not decision makers but can encourage them to share their thoughts and especially anything they would like their parents to be aware of. Your mediator will be able to discuss with you what is likely to help your child or children best.

If you have any queries our in-house mediator and family law solicitor, Simon Hawkins, can help assist you with any queries that you may have.

Collaborative Law as a Cost-Effective Way to Reach Solutions with Legal Support

Collaborative Law is a way in which you can reach solutions by meeting together supported by your own individual solicitor. This means that you have on the spot individual legal advice and support when you discuss matters in a meeting with your ex/former partner. Both you and your partner would have a separate solicitor.

Generally, collaborative meetings mean that you reduce the need for your solicitors to negotiate via correspondence, saving time and money, you remain in control of decisions and any decisions you make can be recorded into a draft order at the conclusion of your meeting.

Your Solicitor may also work with other professionals including financial advisers, family consultants, life coaches and barristers who can provide a neutral evaluation or give a neutral view of your situation.

If you have any queries our in-house collaborative and family law solicitor, Beth Evans, can help assist you with any queries that you may have.

Resolution Together with Joint Legal Advice to Avoid the Family Courts

This is where one solicitor works with and advises both you and your partner together.

If you and your former partner agree that you wish to work together this is a great option. You will jointly work with one solicitor who will provide you jointly with legal advice and assistance to help you reach an agreement together.

Your solicitor will provide you with legal advice jointly. That advice focusses on the best interests of the family as whole rather than on what is best for you individually. Your solicitor will however make sure that if you want or need individual advice in respect to specific issues, they refer you to another professional who can provide the advice necessary. That might be another solicitor, financial advisor or mortgage advisor.

Your solicitor will help you both to design the service you need and support you to reach an agreement. Your solicitor will work as a team with other professionals to provide any other support or advice that you need. That might include financial advisers, family coaches,  or barristers who can provide a neutral evaluation of your situation and arbitrators who can deal with providing a binding outcome if and when you need it.

If you have any queries our in-house trained resolution together and family law solicitors, Beth Evans and Louise Kelly, can help assist you with any queries that you may have.

How Solicitor Negotiation Can Help Resolve Family Disputes to Avoid the Family Courts

If working together is not an option, solicitors can provide a negotiation service on your behalf with correspond with your former partner or via your former partner’s solicitor to try to narrow issues and reach an agreement.

They will do this mainly by email or telephone, although it may also be possible to have ‘round table’ meetings jointly together to work out some of the detail. This can be a useful approach if you do not feel able to discuss things directly with a former partner or if your communication has completely broken down and you feel there is little goodwill between you, or you have any worries or concerns that they may e.g. withhold information. This would also be suitable in those cases where there has been domestic abuse.

For expert family law advice, please contact our local offices in Gloucester or Stroud today. If you have a quick question or would like to request a call back, you can also use our quick online enquiry form or contact by contact@wspsolicitors.com