In this video, family lawyer Tiana Harris talks about the different types of dispute resolution that a party may participate in, whether or not they have commenced court proceedings.
Video transcript
Hi. I'm Tiana, and I'm a lawyer in the family law team here at Cooper Grace Ward. Today, I'm going to talk to you about the different types of dispute resolution that a party may participate in, whether or not they have commenced court proceedings.
Complying with court's pre action procedures
Firstly, before you commence court proceedings, you must comply with the court's pre action procedures and for more information on this, please watch our previous videos. As part of the pre action procedures you must invite the other party to dispute resolution and participate in that dispute resolution, if they agree. Dispute resolution is quite a broad term and encompasses a number of different services that assist the parties to navigate the issues in dispute and resolve those issues. If court proceedings are commenced, the court will consider whether dispute resolution is appropriate having regard to any family violence or safety issues, and, if appropriate, the court will then consider whether the parties have the means to either engage in private dispute resolution or court-based dispute resolution. Privately funded dispute resolution includes mediation, community-based family dispute resolution or arbitration. For private dispute resolution, the parties will themselves engage a mediator or a family dispute resolution practitioner, and the costs of those are usually shared equally between the parties. Alternatively, court-based dispute resolution includes a conciliation conference, a judicial settlement conference or a family dispute resolution conference. For these dispute resolution events, usually a judicial officer, such as a judicial registrar, senior judicial registrar, judge or court child expert will assist the parties to again, navigate those issues in dispute and help to resolve the dispute. Usually, the costs of a court-based dispute resolution event is much cheaper than a privately organised one.
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This publication is for information only and is not legal advice. You should obtain advice that is specific to your circumstances and not rely on this publication as legal advice. If there are any issues you would like us to advise you on arising from this publication, please contact Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers.
