Mr Justice Ryder’s Modernisation of Family Justice report comes out in favour of family arbitration

Paragraph 62 of Ryder J’s key report Judicial proposals for the modernisation of family justice, published on 28 July 2012, has this, encouragingly, to say about the IFLA Scheme:

‘The [Money and Property working group of the Family Justice Council] will also be asked to make recommendations about rule and practice direction changes to facilitate the determination of cases out of court; for example, where the parties have agreed to an arbitration conducted in accordance with the principles of English law by an accredited family arbitrator, including interim directions and whether special arrangements should be made for the expedition of the approval of consent orders to reflect arbitrated decisions.’

This reinforces what is already our understanding: that the senior family judiciary view arbitration as a useful adjunct to the court process. The anticipated Rule and Practice Direction changes to accommodate arbitration as a separate but twin-track dispute resolution process will immeasurably enhance the credibility of the IFLA Scheme by giving it the stamp of approval from the highest rungs of the Family Justice ladder.

To access the full report go to:

http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Reports/ryderj_recommendations_final.pdf