Private Financial Dispute Resolution

At a traditional Court based Financial Dispute Resolution Appointment the Judge tries to assist the parties to settle their Financial Case, by giving an “indication” of what the Court would be likely to order at a Final Hearing if the matter cannot be resolved by agreement.   A Private FDR is a form of Non-Court Dispute Resolution (NCDR) where the parties choose a specialist Financial Remedies barrister to act as an early neutral Evaluator (sometimes referred to as a “Private FDR Judge”).   The barrister takes on the role of the judge, reading the papers and hearing legal arguments. An “indication” is then provided to the parties as to what a Court would be likely to order at a Final Hearing and what a fair settlement would be. The parties have time to negotiate, with the benefit of the Private FDR Evaluator’s view. Settlement is very often achieved.   There are significant advantages to all the parties involved in a Private FDR:  

• Flexibility in fixing a date for the FDR avoids the delays inherent in the school process
• The parties can jointly choose a specialist Financial Remedies barrister as their Private FDR Evaluator.
• The dedicated availability of the Private FDR ‘judge’ affords the parties a level of in-depth involvement often not available at Court. Absent the pressures of attending at Court the parties have a much better environment in which to negotiate an agreement.
• Reaching an agreement at an early stage, avoids the financial cost and emotional strain of protracted Court proceedings.
• Certainty of outcome
• The speed of the process
• The parties have a choice of Arbitrator
• Total continuity of Arbitrator for any interim decisions that need to be made and the final arbitration
• Flexibility of format of the arbitration.

  The nature of the arbitration can be tailored to the parties’ requirements, from a full scale private final hearing, with cross examination and oral submissions, down to single discrete issues which could be determined on paper.  In CM v CM [2019] EWFC 16, Mr Justice Moor stated in relation to a disputed letter of instruction to an expert that: “If, however, in a future case, there is a genuine issue as to drafting, I consider it would be exactly the sort of matter that should be referred to an arbitrator who is accredited by the Institute of Family Law Arbitrators.”   Financial arbitrations cover the whole range of family financial disputes, whether between married couples or unmarried couples or family members in disputes under the Inheritance Act 1975.  Disputes concerning children can also be decided by an Arbitrator accredited under the Family Law Arbitration Children Scheme.