What Is Family Law Arbitration?

Last reviewed: 28th July 2026

Article summary

✓  Family law arbitration gives you a binding decision from an arbitrator you and your former partner choose.

✓  You can use arbitration for financial disputes on divorce and for specified disputes about your children, including where they live and how time is shared.

✓  The arbitrator is specifically experienced in the area of law to be determined which can be particularly helpful in complex matters.

✓  Pauline Purcell is an IFLA-accredited family arbitrator in financial remedy cases, so you can ask her to act as arbitrator or to represent you in an arbitration where another arbitrator is appointed.

✓  Your hearing takes place in private, with no media access and no public record of the arbitration itself.

✓  If you wait for a court hearing instead, you may face months, and sometimes years, of delay that arbitration can often avoid.

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Introduction

In my experience, most clients are highly distressed if mediation or other forms of non-court dispute resolution fail as they assume the next step is a contested court hearing, with all the stress and cost such a route involves. Fortunately, there is an alternative solution. Family law arbitration allows you and your former partner/spouse to appoint an experienced qualified arbitrator, fix a timetable around your case, and move to a binding outcome (the courts retain jurisdiction to uphold or enforce the award, ensuring it aligns with legal standards) without joining the court backlog. In addition, the cost of family law arbitration is usually less than taking your case to the Family Court.

What is family law arbitration?

Family law arbitration is a private and formal method of dispute resolution where parties agree to appoint an experienced qualified arbitrator to adjudicate their dispute and make a binding decision. It has been available in England and Wales since 26 March 2012

Family arbitration can address financial disputes arising from marriage, civil partnerships, cohabitation, and parenting arrangements, as well as disputes concerning children. The process is initiated by the parties signing an arbitration agreement, such as the ARB1FS form for financial disputes or the ARB1CS form for children disputes, which binds them to the arbitration process and the Institute of Family Law Arbitrators IFLA rules. The arbitrator’s decision, referred to as an award (in financial cases) or a determination (in children’s cases), is binding on the parties, provided it falls within the parameters that a court would consider acceptable.

How does arbitration differ from mediation?

Arbitration gives you a binding decision from a qualified arbitrator. Mediation helps you and your former partner try to reach your own agreement, but the mediator cannot impose an outcome. If mediation breaks down, arbitration gives you a route to a decision that does not depend on further agreement between you.

In mediation, a trained mediator helps you discuss the issues, but any arrangement you reach usually needs to be turned into a court order by consent before it carries legal effect. In arbitration, by signing the aforementioned forms, you and your partner agree to be bound by the arbitrator’s written decision under the IFLA rules. The arbitrator then makes a decision which is usually binding on the parties and unless there are exceptional circumstances, approved by the Court and made into a Court Order.

Who can act as your arbitrator?

Your arbitrator must be a family law specialist accredited under the IFLA scheme. That will usually be an experienced solicitor, barrister, or retired judge with arbitration training and qualifications. You and your former partner must agree who that person is, and you can choose an arbitrator with specific experience in the area of law which needs to be resolved. This can be in contrast with a Court Judge who may have their core experience in another area of law.

I am accredited by IFLA as an arbitrator whose specialism includes family financial matters, particularly those involving pensions or businesses. You can ask me to act as arbitrator if both of you agree, or I can represent you as your Solicitor in an arbitration conducted by another arbitrator.

Once appointed, your arbitrator only decides the dispute you have referred to arbitration. Article 2 of the Family Law Arbitration Scheme Rules sets out the financial and property disputes the scheme can cover, so the arbitrator’s authority depends on the issues you and your former partner have agreed to submit.

Can arbitration resolve disputes about my children?

Yes. If you and your former partner both agree, arbitration can resolve some disputes about your children as well as financial disputes. Although, arbitration concerning children’s issues is limited in its scope an arbitrator can make decisions about numerous issues concerning your children. .

The IFLA Children Arbitration Scheme allows parties to resolve private law disputes concerning children, provided they fall within the scheme’s remit. These include issues such as:     

✓ where a child should live,

✓ shared living arrangements,

✓ visiting arrangements,

✓ education,

✓ routines,

✓ non-life-threatening medical treatment, and

✓ applications to remove a child from the jurisdiction temporarily or permanently.

 

However, the scheme expressly excludes certain matters, such as:

✓ international child abduction cases,

✓ disputes involving the jurisdiction of courts outside England and Wales,

✓ life-changing or life-threatening medical treatment, and

✓ cases where a party lacks capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

How much faster and more private is arbitration?

Arbitration can move much faster than a contested court hearing because the timetable is fixed around the arbitrator’s availability and your case, rather than the court’s listing pressures. The family courts are under significant pressure and private law cases, particularly financial remedy on divorce can be significantly delayed in the Court system as other areas of law are given priority to Court resources. Under the IFLA rules, the arbitration and its outcome are confidential except where disclosure is needed to challenge, implement, enforce, or vary an award, or where the law requires disclosure.

The arbitrator will control the process and make directions about what financial disclosure must be provided before a decision can be made. IFLA’s public guidance states that media are not admitted to meetings, so your finances and your children’s arrangements stay out of a public hearing list.

 

Feature	Family arbitration	Contested court hearing
Who decides	An arbitrator you and your former partner choose	A judge assigned by the court
Timetable	Fixed around availability in your case	Fixed by the court listing system
Privacy	Confidential process; media not admitted to meetings	Court hearings may be open to the public and press
Typical pace	Often much quicker than waiting for a final hearing date	Often slowed by court delay and adjournment risk

Is a family law arbitrator’s decision legally binding?

Your arbitrator’s decision is intended to be binding once you and your former partner have signed the arbitration agreement., In financial cases, although a properly conducted arbitral award carries substantial weight, the court must still assess the award against the factors listed in section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 and determine if the financial settlement is fair and puts the welfare of any children first and foremost. The court retains the discretion to substitute its own order if it finds the award to be unjust or outside the range of reasonable outcomes. However, it is rare for a Court to overturn an arbitrator’s award.

Talk to Purcell Solicitors

If you are considering family law arbitration, we can talk you through how the process works, whether it suits your case, and what the next step would look like. We advise on arbitration across Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and the Thames Valley. You can contact us through our contact page or by telephone on 01908 693000.

Please note this article does not constitute legal advice.