Excerpts from Family Arbitration: Perspectives of a Practitioner and Trainer – Part 3 of 3

These excerpts are taken from Family Arbitration: Perspectives of a Practitioner and Trainer, written by Richard W. Shields. This content will be part of the upcoming 40-Hour Family Arbitration Law & Skills training. Learn more here.

Before the Hearing – Appointing the Arbitrator

Under section 58(d) of the Arbitration Act, any arbitrator who conducts a family arbitration must have received training, approved by the Attorney General. The AGO website is found atwww.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/family/arbitration. The AGO does not require training in the family arbitration process. However, an arbitrator does require 14 hours of training in screening for domestic violence and power imbalances, which must be completed within a one-week period. Those arbitrators who are not members of the legal profession in Ontario or elsewhere in Canada must complete 30 hours of training on Ontario family law. In addition, family arbitrators must undertake ongoing training of 10 hours over any two-year period, of which one-half must be on domestic violence or power imbalance issues.

Whether the arbitrator is appointed by the court under subsection 10(1) of the Arbitration Act or by the parties and their lawyers, which is more common in family arbitration, pursuant to subsection 11(1), he or she shall be independent of the parties and he or she shall act impartially.

Preparing Family Arbitration Agreements

Brian Casey and Janet Mills (2005) set out four questions that an arbitrator need consider in preparing an agreement to arbitrate as follows:

1. What is to be arbitrated?
2. By whom is it to be arbitrated?
3. Where is it to be arbitrated?
4. How is it to be arbitrated?

All content © Copyright by Richard W. Shields (2017).
Contents may not be reproduced or provided to others without the written permission of Richard W. Shields.