Lupton Fawcett is supporting a national campaign to raise awareness of the ways in which divorcing couples can settle their disputes away from the court system.
Good Divorce Week, which is taking place this week (28 November to 2 December), was established by Resolution, a community of family justice professionals who work with families and individuals to resolve issues in a constructive way.
Richard Buckley is a member of Resolution and an associate solicitor, mediator and collaborative lawyer at Lupton Fawcett, which has offices in Leeds, Sheffield and York.
He specialises in promoting a constructive and non-contentious approach to family law through alternative methods of dispute resolution that take place outside the court.
Buckley said: “The family courts are facing large backlogs, which means families are frequently left waiting long periods of time to sort out finances and the arrangements for children, resulting in unnecessary stress and making it difficult for parties to move forward positively.
“Many separating couples are unaware of the array of alternative options available to them to help them reach a settlement outside of court, such as mediation, meaning more cases end up in court than are really necessary.”
Mediation is one of the best-known non-court approaches to dispute resolution and involves a neutral mediator supporting both parties, bringing them together to explore their options and providing information that helps them agree on arrangements for their children and/or how to divide their assets.
Another option is collaborative law, where each party appoints their own collaboratively trained solicitor and both clients and solicitors come together to work things out face to face, alongside experts such as a financial adviser or child specialist where these are required.
One of the most recent developments in dispute resolution is hybrid mediation, which involves a mediator working with both parties, with the ability to have confidential discussions and often involves including the parties’ solicitors in mediation meetings.
With solicitors providing support and advice to their individual clients, the mediator helps the couple reach agreement on points as they arise.
Buckley, who is one of just a handful of solicitors in the north of England trained to act as a hybrid mediator, said this and other non-court approaches are growing in popularity as a way of achieving positive outcomes and faster resolution.
He said: “Divorce is like getting to the top of a mountain—no-one expects it to be easy but your experience of it will depend on the route you take and the choice of vehicle you choose to get you there.
“Mediation, hybrid mediation and collaborative law can enable people to retain more control of the divorce process, rather than having to put things in the hands of the court.
“The flexibility and constructive nature of these approaches mean creative solutions can be found, often allowing both parties to achieve more of what is important to them while freeing up the courts to focus on the cases they are best-placed to manage.
“During Good Divorce Week we’ll be raising awareness of alternatives to court resolution so that separating couples are better able to choose the route that best suits their circumstances.”
Image source: Canva
