This week is Family Dispute Resolution Week (25 to 29 November) sponsored by Resolution, the professional body representing most family law solicitors, and which promotes a code of practice and a number of ways of solving family disputes by alternative means.
A survey commissioned by Resolution produced a startling statistic that only half of people surveyed (51%) say they would consider trying a non-Court-based solution instead of going to Court if they were to divorce in the future. This is a worrying statistic, as both the Government and the legal profession are trying to encourage people to look towards settling their problems directly, around a table, with skilled professionals helping to guide them through.
With the huge drop in availability of legal aid, the Courts are now facing a large number of litigants in person, who have not had the benefit of legal advice and are often still very much under the stress of the breakup of the relationship.
Our experience is that many people do suffer from anger and frustration, but Court proceedings can be uncontrollable, stressful, and the worst of it all is that you don’t retain control of decisions yourself, but leave someone else to make them for you. At FJG we have partners who are qualified collaborative lawyers, a mediator and an arbitrator. Our hope is to find ways to resolve the problems, sensibly and by working together if at all possible.
Resolution has published a new guide “Separating together”, and the link for this guide is: www.resolution.org.uk/separatingtogether/