On Monday, April 29th, 2024, significant amendments to the Family Procedure Rules have come into effect. Amongst others, these changes aim to ensure a fair and efficient resolution of family disputes by promoting alternative dispute resolution methods (NCDR), such as mediation, and reducing reliance on traditional court proceedings. Here are the key changes and their implications for those involved in family law proceedings.
1. Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings (MIAMs): These include reductions in MIAM exemptions, a definition of a MIAM, and a stronger emphasis on the court’s ability to encourage the use of non-court dispute resolution (NCDR).The importance of MIAMs in facilitating out-of-court resolutions has been underscored so as to promote a collaborative approach to resolving family disputes. So parties are encouraged to explore mediation as a first step before resorting to court litigation, encouraging a more cooperative and less adversarial approach to resolving family disputes.
2. Costs Management: In financial remedies cases, the power to ‘encourage’ NCDR is now backed by an amended rule, which will make a failure, without good reason, to engage in NCDR a reason to consider departing from the general starting point that there should be no order as to costs.
• This trend is reflected in the case law eg In X v Y (Financial Remedy: Non-Court Dispute Resolution) [2024], Judge Knowles gave a ruling so as to ensure that those involved in family proceedings “understand the court’s expectation that a serious effort must be made to resolve their differences before they issue court proceedings and, thereafter, at any stage of the proceedings where this might be appropriate’, and to signal that ‘at all stages of the proceedings, the court will be active in considering whether non-court dispute resolution is suitable’ and the changes to Part 3 ‘will give an added impetus to the court’s duty in this regard’.
The Family Mediation Council have said that it “welcomes these changes and is continuing to work with the Ministry of Justice, the courts, and the Family Justice Council to ensure they have the intended impact of helping as many families as possible resolve issues without turning to the court”.