Written by Simeon Bowen-Fanstone, Solicitor in the Family Team.
Resolution, the Family justice body representing over 6,500 family justice professionals, including Onions & Davies Family Law solicitors Louise Martin and Simeon Bowen-Fanstone, has urged caution over new proposals which would see couples forced into family mediation, regardless of whether or not it is the most suitable way forward for them.
Resolution fear that unless these proposals are combined with better signposting to and funding of early legal advice, separating families face floundering in a failing justice system.
Under current laws, family mediation is already compulsory to parties seeking to issue financial remedy applications and child-related applications under s8 of The Children Act 1989, unless they qualify for an exemption, for example, having been the victim of domestic abuse, or if they can show to the Court that their application is urgent, and that there would be a potential miscarriage of justice if their application is not dealt with without delay. The new proposals would see most of these exemptions removed, and only cases involving domestic abuse or child protection concerns would be exempt from mediation. It is proposed that separating couples would face financial penalties, if the Court deems that one party has acted unreasonably and/or harmed a child’s wellbeing by prolonging court proceedings.
Resolution’s Chair, Juliet Harvey, has said:
“We welcome anything that can help families avoid court where possible, safe, and appropriate for them to do so. Mediation will help many do this, and it can be a very effective method of resolving disputes. However, it is not right for everyone… and may leave some without a lasting solution and could mean they end up needing more help and taking up more court time further down the line.”
Resolution would like to see separating couples given early access to legal advice, so that they can understand the options available to them, and informed decisions about important issues such as family finances and what arrangements are made for children.
It is now ten years since legal aid was removed for the vast majority of family work, and during this time, the proportion of cases in the family courts involving unrepresented parties has rocketed from 13% in 2013 to 39% in 2022. At the same time, demand on the family court has never been higher, and families are experiencing prolonged delays to complete matters. The latest figures from Resolution show that it is taking a year on average to determine arrangements for children, and nearly two years on average to sort out financial arrangements via the family court.
Simeon Bowen-Fanstone, Family Law Solicitor at Onions and Davies said:
“The new government proposals are certainly interesting, and have provoked a lot of healthy debate amongst practitioners of Family Law. Whilst I firmly believe in the merits of family mediation, and alternative methods of dispute resolution generally, each separating couple are different, and a one-size-fits-all approach will not succeed. In my professional experience, family mediation has tended to be most successful where both parties have opted to mediate voluntarily, having been properly appraised of all of their alternative options by their legal advisor. For this reason, we offer new clients a fixed-fee meeting of up to one hour with one of our Family Law specialist solicitors, so that we can properly appraise their situation, and what they are looking to achieve, so that new clients can leave that meeting knowing exactly what options they have open to them, the strengths and weaknesses of those options, what the various options will cost, and the timescales involved with pursuing those options.”
Onions & Davies Solicitors provide legal services in Market Drayton and surrounding areas, Whitchurch, Telford, Shrewsbury, Loggerheads, Nantwich Eccleshall and Newcastle.
To book an initial no-obligation fixed-fee meeting with one of our Family Law Solicitors and Resolution members, please contact Sharon Moore on 01630 411226, or email sharon@onionsanddavies.co.uk
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