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Family Law Act Basics

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→‎What is arbitration?

In arbitration, a neutral person with special training, an ''arbitrator'', resolves a family law dispute by making a decision, called an ''award,'' after hearing each party's evidence and witnesses. Arbitral awards are binding on the parties just like a court order. Although arbitration can be a lot like going to court, it has a lot of advantages over litigation:

#*the parties can pick the person they want to arbitrate their dispute;,#*the arbitration hearing can be scheduled whenever everybody is available without having to wait on trial scheduling;,#*arbitration hearings happen in private, often in the arbitrator’s office boardroom;,#*the parties can choose the rules of the arbitration process; and,#*the parties can decide to have the arbitrator resolve a dispute in many different ways, from an oral hearing over the telephone without witnesses to a full hearing that looks just like a trial.

The result of an arbitration process is the arbitrator’s award. The arbitrator’s award is private, but can be filed in court and be enforced like a court order.

The arbitration of family law disputes in British Columbia is governed by rules set out in Part 2, Division 4 of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'', and is no longer covered by the provincial ''Arbitration Act''.

More information about arbitration is available in the [[Resolving Family Law Problems out of Court]] chapter in the section on [[Family Law Arbitration]].

Alise Nelson

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Family Law Act Basics

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