If you are going through a divorce in British Columbia, you may believe that your case is destined to linger on for months while you wait through numerous contested court hearings. While cases that proceed through the litigation process may indeed drag on over long periods, you may want to consider a divorce alternative such as arbitration for a quicker resolution to your case.

The key benefit to arbitration over family law litigation is that the process is generally much quicker, thus saving the time and expense associated with the slower court litigation process. Arbitration is still adversarial in nature, meaning you and your spouse will still present your respective arguments to a third party. The third party’s decision will be a final one just like a judge’s would be. Unlike court, in which your case would be assigned to a judge, you are able to choose the arbitrator who will hear your case, and the proceeding is also confidential in nature.

Mediation is another alternative to both litigation and arbitration that may be a better choice for some. In mediation, a neutral third party acts as a facilitator to help the two sides reach an agreement. Unlike arbitration, a mediator does not rule on the case, and if an agreement is not reached, you can still proceed to court on any outstanding and unresolved issues.

We have arbitrators who hear cases and lawyers who represent people through arbitration on our staff. We help people who have family law issues by arbitrating cases, and our arbitrators work to help quickly resolve disputes while remaining fair and impartial. Our lawyers zealously advocate on behalf of their clients through both arbitration and litigation proceedings. For more information, you may want to review our page on arbitration.