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Family Arbitration, Mediation, FDR & Collaborative Law

Our award-winning Non-Court Dispute Resolution solicitors help you to find the best route to resolution for any family law issue — whether arbitration, mediation or collaborative law.

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In family law, non-court dispute resolution (NCDR) — sometimes known as alternative, private or external dispute resolution — refers to a range of techniques and processes for settling a dispute outside of court. It includes family arbitration, mediation and collaborative law.

In recent years, NCDR has become increasingly popular and efficient way to resolve family issues in respect of financial matters and arrangements for children. Often quicker and more cost-effective than traditional court options, it can provide a bespoke way to achieve the right result — even in complex family law disputes.

NCDR can be used for most types of financial settlement disputes, including issues like interim maintenance, legal services funding and the overall division of assets, as well as most common children issues, such as with whom the children will live, what time they will spend with the other parent and disputes over holidays and education.

Our trusted and award-winning family law team is recognised in The Times Best Law Firms and has a wealth of experience as both participant and tribunal in using NCDR to ensure the best route to resolution for any family law issue.

Talk to us by giving us a call on 0333 004 4488, sending us an email at family@brabners.com or completing our contact form below.

Dispute resolution

Award-winning family lawyers & early adopters of NCDR

While our experts can travel nationally for the purpose of adjudicating a dispute, our fabulous, award-winning offices — conveniently located in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Lancashire — provide modern, comfortable and completely private surroundings.

Whether you’re looking for an arbitrator or private financial dispute resolution (FDR) Judge to adjudicate your case, or want to be guided through the available options to choose the right one for you, as early adopters of the NCDR model our experts are perfectly placed to advise.

Backed-up by the capabilities of our full-service legal offering — including in privacy, defamation and reputation management — we will carefully guide you through each step of the dispute resolution process.

Find out more about the different types of NCDR and how we can help below.

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Family arbitration

Family arbitration in England and Wales is a form of non-court dispute resolution where you and your ex-partner appoint a qualified family arbitrator to resolve disputes related to family matters in a way that can be faster and more confidential than traditional court proceedings.

Family arbitration can be used in most kinds of financial and children disputes. Our Partner and experienced family lawyer Helen Marriott is one of the country's best regarded specialists in complex financial cases. Helen was the first family solicitor in Liverpool to qualify as an arbitrator and is perfectly placed to adjudicate on interim and substantive financial issues.

Our Partner Cara Nuttall is also an arbitrator, qualified to adjudicate on children matters. This covers a wide variety of child disputes including those that relate to child arrangements or specific issues such as relocation, schooling, religion, holidays or a child’s name.

An arbitrator is a highly trained individual who has the power to make binding decisions and will have no connection to your case. Often, arbitrators are experienced family law solicitors, barristers or retired Judges. In family arbitration proceedings, a qualified arbitrator will hear arguments from both parties about what they say the outcome should be and why, before imposing a decision (acting like a Judge).

Parties that sign up to arbitration agree to be bound by the decision of the arbitrator. A decision can only be challenged in limited circumstances. Once the decision (known as the award) is made, it’s translated into a court order, which is usually submitted to the court as an administrative exercise without the need to attend court at all.  

If you’re involved in mediation, you'll usually still be represented by solicitors and/or a barrister within the arbitration process.

As a team with extensive litigation and NCDR experience, we can advise and represent you throughout the process, from deciding whether arbitration is right for you to preparing your case for a successful arbitration and identifying the right arbitrator for your case.

A divorcing couple attend mediation

Family mediation & hybrid mediation

Mediation involves a couple meeting with a specially trained family law mediator to discuss their dispute.

The mediator is independent and doesn’t provide legal advice — they simply assist both parties to reach an agreement during mediation sessions.

Once an agreement is reached, a consent order is drafted to reflect the terms of the agreement and turn it into a legally binding and enforceable outcome (once approved by the court).

While solicitors don’t usually attend mediation sessions, taking legal advice and having a complete understanding of your legal position is a crucial part of the process.

We can ensure that you have the right advice at each stage of the process to make fully informed decisions, as well as all the information you need to ensure the outcome is right for you. Once you've reached an agreement, we can draft the court order and help you to obtain the court’s approval.

Often used in more complex disputes, hybrid mediation usually sees solicitors attend mediation sessions to provide support and advice and participate in discussions and negotiations.

As with traditional mediation, taking legal advice outside of mediation sessions is an important part of the process.

Our team of expert family lawyers can help you to prepare for your sessions and make sure that you have the best framework in place.

Couple meeting with lawyer collaborative setting

Collaborative law

Collaborative law is a process that involves specially trained collaborative solicitors who help to guide the parties to an agreed outcome over a series of meetings, often involving other relevant professionals such as accountants and tax advisors.

Each party has its own solicitor who advises and assists throughout, both within the collaborative meetings and outside of them.

Those participating in the collaborative process sign up to a code of conduct, which agrees that they will not resort to court unless the collaborative process fails.

As with the other forms of ADR, once an agreement is reached the lawyers involved will help to draft the agreement to reflect the terms within the format of a court order, which is then submitted to the court for approval.

Our Partner Leanne Instrall is a trained collaborative lawyer and can advise you on choosing this path to resolve your family law dispute.

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Private financial dispute resolution hearings (FDRs) & early neutral evaluations (ENEs)

Private financial dispute resolution hearings can be used when you're within the court process or have decided to use NCDR but still need a bit more input than the mediation or collaborative processes offer.

A private FDR will mirror the FDR process within the court timetable. Someone acting as a Judge will consider both parties’ positions and reasonings before offering guidance on the appropriate parameters for settlement. They will give an indication of what they believe would (and should) happen if matters go to court.

Like other forms of NCDR (and like a traditional FDR within the court system), a private FDR is ‘without prejudice’ — meaning that you can’t later be held to any proposals that you make to try and reach a settlement in the event that matters go to court or an agreement isn’t reached on the day. However, unlike arbitration, a private FDR can't impose an outcome on the parties.

Early neutral evaluations are similar to FDRs in the sense that the evaluator will consider the papers and facts in the case and provide an opinion in terms of what they consider the outcome should be. A standalone review, an ENE is essentially the ‘indication’ that would be provided at an FDR hearing. These can be used in either financial or children matters.

Our award-winning family law team has long been regarded as one of the best in the country at handling complex financial disputes. Consistently recognised at the top of legal directory rankings both individually and as a team, we offer private FDR ‘judges’ to suit every case and budget, ensuring that you can find the right person to guide your case. Our solicitors can expertly prepare your case for private FDR, with a view to achieving an outcome that protects your family’s future, without the need to attend court.

Meet the team

Helen Marriott

Helen Marriott

Partner, Practice Group Head - Brabners Personal

Cara Nuttall

Cara Nuttall

Partner, Head of Family

Mediation couple adr

Resolving disputes through family mediation — your questions answered

We sat down with Kirsten Tomlinson and Danielle Hutchinson from our family law team to answer some of the common questions they get asked about the mediation process.

Read more

NCDR — learn more

Brabners has one of the North of England’s largest family law teams, with expertise across financial, children, international and fertility work.

The Times Best Law Firms 2025

Leanne [Instrall]’s support and advice was always greatly appreciated. I always particularly liked how she put the needs of the children at the fore of her advice. The peace of mind this order has given me is invaluable.

Anonymous family law client

Brabners continues to draw superb praise from a range of clients... The "talented" team competently handles complex divorce and financial remedy cases, often managing a plethora of foreign and business assets as well as trusts and pensions.

The Legal 500 2024

The team at Brabners [contains] seasoned family law professionals with a wealth of experience. Brabners is a collaborative law firm. Lawyers at Brabners are always exceptionally prepared and provide robust and considered advice.

The Legal 500, 2023

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