Arbitration is a dispute resolution process in which the parties hire a neutral third party, a ''family law arbitrator'', to make a <span class="noglossary">decision</span> resolving their dispute. The parties will sign an ''arbitration agreement '' to start the process and this agreement , which says, among other things, that the parties <span class="noglossary">will</span> be bound by the arbitrator's decision. While the job of a mediator is to help two people work towards a solution resolution of their family law dispute that they make for themselves, the arbitrator's job is to <span class="noglossary">act</span> like a judge and impose a resolution, after hearing the evidence and listening to the arguments of each party.

Before the new ''[[Family Law Act]]'' became law in British Columbia, arbitration was rarely used in family law disputes, probably because most lawyers figured that if they have to have somebody impose make a decision in a case, it might as well be a judge. Arbitration was most often used in a the context of labour law context; in and construction disputes. In other places, such as Ontario and Alberta, the arbitration of family law disputes is commonplacewell-established and has been for some time. The ''[[Family Law Act]]'', however, made a number of changes to the law that improved the usefulness of arbitration in family law disputesin British Columbia, and the number of people choosing arbitration is increasing as a result.

Arbitration has a number of advantages as a way of for resolving family law problems:

#it It allows the parties to hand-pick the particular person who will make decisions about the issues they cannot agree on, which means that they might pick an arbitrator who has is not just an expert family law lawyer, but a lawyer with special expertise inknowledge of, for example, the care of children, tax problems, or property issues,.#it It allows the couple to pick the particular rules that will apply to the hearing and the decision-making process,.#the The arbitration process is private, confidential and closed to the public, and.#the The result of the process is an award that is just as binding as a court order and is enforceable just like a court order.

As well, it's often faster to arrange a date for an arbitration than for a court hearing. Although short trials of two or three days can usually be booked within eight or ten months, it can take a year or longer more to get a date for longer trials because the court is so busy. An arbitration hearing can be booked as soon as everyone has the free time in their calendars.

When parties agree to arbitrate their dispute — you can't force someone into arbitration, it has to be voluntary — they first pick their arbitrator and then meet with the arbitrator to discuss the process leading to the arbitration hearing , decided the date and place for the hearing, and pick their the rulesthat will govern the hearing. Most A lot of the time, the rules that people select are taken from the more important parts of the [http://www.bclaws.ca/EPLibraries/bclaws_new/document/ID/freeside/169_2009_00 Supreme Court Family Rules] relating to that talk about evidence, experts, and hearing procedures.

Next, the parties will exchange the documents and information that are relevant to their dispute. If child support is an issue, for example, financial statements might be prepared and documents like income tax returns, T4 slips and paystubs might be exchanged.

If For complicated problems, the parties cannot agree on how a child should be cared for, they might also hire an expert to give an opinion about things like the value of a psychologist to prepare pension, a report on tax problem or the best parenting arrangements that will work best for the child, children. That last kind of opinion is called a ''parenting assessment'' or a ''section 211 report'', or they might hire and is usually prepared by a different lawyer psychologist, clinical counsellor or a social worker to talk to the child and prepare a ''views of the child report''. The nature of the documents that are important and the extent of the disclosure that is required will change depending on the circumstances and how the parties decide to approach their dispute. There's more information about parenting assessments and views of the child reports in the introduction section of the [[Children_in_Family_Law_Matters|Children]] chapter.

Once The nature of the appropriate documents have been exchanged and any reports have been completedthat are important, the parties will attend one or more hearings with their arbitrator. These hearings take place in extent of the arbitrator's office, a boardroom in a hotel or anywhere else disclosure that's private, is required and the type of expert opinions that are usually less formal than court hearings; arbitration processes can be as informal as most useful will change depending on the circumstances and how the parties and decide to approach the arbitrator wantarbitration process.

At these hearingsOnce the appropriate documents have been exchanged and any opinions have been completed, each party presents the parties will attend the hearing with their evidencearbitrator. These hearings take place in the arbitrator's office, which may include witnesses who give testimony a boardroom in a hotel or may anywhere else that's private, and are usually less formal than court hearings; arbitration processes can be limited to documents as informal as the parties and affidavits. Each party then makes arguments to show the arbitrator why the arbitrator should make a particular decisionwant.

At the hearing, each party presents their evidence, which may include witnesses who give testimony or may be limited to documents and affidavits. Each party then makes arguments to show the arbitrator why the arbitrator should resolve their family law dispute in the way they each prefer. After the hearing process is over, the arbitrator will provide a written decision, called an ''award'', summarizing the evidence and resolving all of the legal issues, and explaining why the arbitrator resolved the issues in the way they resolved them. Awards can be giving orally, if the parties agree. Most of the time, awards are given in writing.

Arbitration is very flexible and very useful. Parenting coordinators use a process a lot like arbitration to make a decision resolving a disagreement when the parents aren't able to find a solution to which they both agree on the resolution of the dispute. The flexibility of arbitration means that people can ask their arbitrator to make a decision based on the rules of a religion. Arbitration can also be used to: * break logjams in settlement discussions, where only one or two issues can't be agreed upon,* resolve disagreements about how the law should be interpreted or applied in a particular situation,* make temporary decisions about support or parenting arrangements while the parties are negotiating a settlement, or* perform difficult calculations, like about the amount of costs payable, the income of someone who is self-employed, the amount of spousal support payable or the after-tax cost of children's expenses.

Only a few circumstances make arbitration a necessary choice over mediation, collaborative settlement processes, or courtlitigation. Typically, a couple will choose arbitration if:

*they wish the laws of their religion or another set of principles to apply to the proceedingstheir dispute,*their positions are too far apart to make negotiation or mediation a reasonable choice and must have a decision made for them, but don't want to go to the expense, anxiety and acrimony typically involved in litigationgoing to court,*they want to resolve their dispute discreetly and privately, and don't want to risk things their personal business being made public,*the issues are complex and require a decision-maker who is a specialist in the areathose issues, or

It's important to understand that while arbitrators can make awards on all of the usual family law issues, including like parenting arrangements, contact, child support, spousal support and the division of property and debt, arbitrators cannot make awards on issues that require the order of can only be decided by a judge. These issues include:

*divorce ordersand annulments,*orders appointing someone as the guardian of a child who is not a parentof that child, *declarations about who is, and who is not, the parent of a child,and*orders changing the order of a judge, and*orders changing an order made in another province, territory or country.

* [http://www.clicklaw.bc.ca/helpmap/service/1044 CBABC Lawyer Referral Service].

{{REVIEWED | reviewer = [[John-Paul Boyd]], May 1011, 2019}}