According to the Institute of Family Law Arbitrators, the number of arbitrations undertaken by divorcing couples doubled between 2023 and 2025, rising from 89 to 178. In this article, we examine why divorcing couples are increasingly choosing arbitration over the court process.
Why families are turning to arbitration
The benefits and importance of arbitration in family proceedings cannot be underestimated in the current landscape of oversubscribed courts, increasing transparency and listing delays. Arbitration provides families with a private, fully determinative court hearing on their own timescale and with their choice of tribunal.
This flexibility and control is understandably appealing to families who wish to address matters swiftly and without the risk of attracting media attention, particularly when they have children to consider. Arbitration can provide certainty much more quickly than a court can.
Following the President of the Family Division’s September 2025 announcement that sitting days in the London Financial Remedies Court would be reduced, the court now has greater latitude to pull and relist hearings with as little as a week’s notice. In high-value financial remedy cases, this creates a real risk of wasted costs and delayed outcomes that parties are understandably keen to avoid.
The rise in arbitration reflects the general trend we are experiencing in practice, where we have noticed a positive shift in the reception of separating couples to arbitration, whether to determine matters holistically or specific issues.
Arbitration in children matters
This trend has been especially pronounced in children matters, where proposals for arbitration increased notably between 2024 and 2025.
When it comes to determining child arrangements, be that the time each child will spend with each parent, schooling or where a child lives, being able to deal with these matters effectively and in a private forum is attractive to parents as it allows them to shield children from prolonged litigation more easily.
It also enables parents to address specific, smaller issues without the cost of commencing proceedings, for example, holiday arrangements. A disagreement over holiday timings can be arbitrated on paper without any need for the parents to attend a hearing or give evidence. While arbitration may not be suitable for all parents, such as when there are allegations of abuse, or all disputes (as some are not within the scope of the rules) it provides parents with a binding, non-court alternative. It can help foster ongoing coparenting relationships by bringing proceedings to a faster resolution.
This increase in family arbitration follows a change to the family law procedural rules intended to encourage families to engage in non-court dispute resolution, with pecuniary consequences available to a court if they do not. The uptake of arbitration is only likely to increase, and this reflects a positive shift for separating families and overburdened public services.
Head of Children team, Alex Verdan KC, comments:
“As the family law community has more positive experience of arbitration as a way of resolving disputes about children inevitably it will be used more as the advantages of it are clear and compelling.”
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