Alternatives to court

Family Mediation offers a safe, confidential setting to reach agreements without court intervention. Mediation lets you make decisions for your future on child arrangements, finances, and property rather than deferring control to a judge.

Our Family Mediator at BPE is impartial and offers comprehensive legal information relevant to your case. Our in-house mediator, Helen Cankett, is accredited by the Family Mediation Council and is well versed at helping former partners resolve complex issues in family breakdowns. 

Collaborative Family Law enables negotiations without court involvement, with each party represented by their collaborative lawyer. Both parties commit to finding resolutions through ‘four-way’ meetings that focus on mutual agreements. A key benefit of collaborative law is that we are able to advise you and support you to negotiate the best possible outcome.  As an experienced team of family lawyers, we can help you to achieve your objectives and to work together to resolve your issues.   

Other professionals, such as neutral financial advisors and separation coaches, can also participate to support financial and emotional decisions. 

Arbitration, commonly used in commercial law, is a valuable option for resolving complex family matters involving finances and child arrangements. Unlike court, arbitration offers flexibility and lets you choose a qualified arbitrator, ensuring a specialised, confidential decision on the matters that you fail to agree on. 

You as a couple can decide when and how the arbitration takes place, and even if the arbitrator is engaged to resolve a single issue, they can include all other agreed matters in their decision so that they also become binding on both parties.   

An FDR is a financial dispute resolution hearing. Usually, these hearings take place at court as part of formal proceedings. However, it is possible to arrange a ‘private’ FDR outside of court whereby a legal professional such as a solicitor, barrister or retired judge, acts as the judge to assist the couple. Costs are shared, and this approach provides flexibility in timing and scope, often resolving faster than court-listed cases. 

Round table meetings allow both parties to meet with their solicitors to discuss and settle issues more informally. This process is adaptable and encourages amicable resolution. They can be used to negotiate a settlement on a range of issues as a result of separation or divorce and are very flexible. Often, each party will have discussions in a room with their own legal advisor before joining the other party in another room to negotiate. 

If you’re interested in exploring these alternatives to court, our team can discuss your options with you and help determine the best fit for you.