Category Archives: Family Arbitration

The ability to control the process in a manner that fosters professional respect among all involved, to communicate effectively and to empower others to do so is crucial in family arbitration. More so even in parenting coordination. As important as it is to know and correctly apply the law, having effective communication and procedural skills is as, if not more, …
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The ability to organize and conduct the practice of family arbitration in an efficient and effective manner goes a long way towards maintaining a successful practice. Having strong and standard operational protocols, good organizational habits and technological competencies should be part of every course in family arbitration. We cover these topics and more in the first module of our 40-hour …
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Ontario parenting coordinators (PCs) and family arbitrators want to ensure that their process agreements meet the requirements of the Arbitration Act, the Regulation under it that governs family law adjudication and the Family Law Act. How can they do that? Although not required by Regulation, it is recommended that anyone who is providing private family law adjudication be trained in …
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Screening for family violence and power imbalances is not only required by the Regulation under the Arbitration Act, it is also the best way for family arbitrators and parenting coordinators to get to know what clients need from them. To maintain their basic competencies, every parenting coordinator and family arbitrator should: stay compliant with Ministry of Attorney General training requirements …
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Disclosure to prospective clients about the costs and benefits of family arbitration and provision of pre-process steps: plain-language information on website or elsewhere about costs, risks and benefits of private arbitration accessible formats of Q&A, process agreements and general information disclosure of governing Standards of Practice disclosure and explanation of pre-process requirements awareness of duty to assess whether case is …
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We recently surveyed our family mediation and parenting coordination clients. Too often we are focused on the day-to-day pressures and challenges of each file. We don’t take enough time to ask “how did I do?” or to say “thank you!” The results were both rewarding and informative. Here is a summary of what our clients had to say about our …
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A recent decision of Justice A. Himel of the Newmarket Superior Court of Justice is instructive for family mediators, parties seeking mediation services and their lawyers. Butler v Butler addresses the question of mediation confidentiality, and whether an unsigned Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) can be enforced as an agreement. After a long day of closed (eg/confidential) mediation, the mediator dictated …
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Screening is the first step in all family mediation, collaborative law and arbitration cases. The purpose of screening is to ensure that the parties and the process are a good match. There are two options for doing it well. Either the mediator (or mediator-arbitrator) meets separately with each party, or an independent third party meets them both and provides a …
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