21st September 2010

Advocates of collaborative law in divorce will be encouraged to hear comments made by two prominent figures this week, both of whom have criticised the use of adversarial court proceedings during acrimonious relationship splits.

The President of the Family Division, Sir Nicholas Wall, gave a speech to fathers' rights group Families Need Fathers in which he said he wanted English and Welsh family law to become "less adversarial" as there is "nothing worse" for children than to hear their divorcing parents call each other names and argue over contact.

The High Court judge went on to declare his belief that it is important for both parents to be equally involved in the children's lives "even if the opportunities to manifest the qualities which an absent parent can bring to his children may be limited."

In the September issue of the Government Gazette junior justice minister David Djangoly called for an increase in the use of alternative dispute resolution for divorcing couples who, he said, see court proceedings as the "first, rather than the last, resort for dealing with disputes".

He added, "Particularly in relation to family cases where decisions about contact and residency of children are being made, we must ask whether a court is the most appropriate setting.

"By working closely with dispute resolution providers, the judiciary and the legal profession, we have the opportunity to pave the way for reform," Mr Djangoly concluded.

Resolution, the association of family law solicitors, describes collaborative law as a relatively new way of dealing with family disputes. It says that each party to the divorce or separation will have their lawyer to guide them throughout the deliberations, so benefitting from ongoing legal advice, but that the aim of collaborative law in divorce is to resolve all arrangements for children and financial settlements without the need to go to court.