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From arbitrator’s award to consent order

Date:6 JAN 2016
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Barrister, Arbitrator and Mediator

The below article appears in the December issue of Family Law at [2015] Fam Law 1525 and has been made available free of charge as a service to our readers.


The arbitrator has delivered the award in your financial remedy dispute. How then to obtain a consent order reflecting its terms? Sir James Munby President of the Family Division has given important guidance on this topic both in S v S (Financial Remedies: Arbitral Award) [2014] EWHC 7 (Fam) [2014] 1 FLR 1257 in which I was the arbitrator and in his very recent Arbitration  in the Family Court: Practice Guidance issued on 23 November 2015.

Drafting the order

The parties may instruct the arbitrator to draft the consent order. In my view it is sensible to do so as the arbitrator is in a unique position to ensure that the draft order truly reflects his or her own award. Time and costs will often be saved in this way. Whoever does the drafting there are certain recitals that should be included (adapted as may be appropriate) in...

Read the full article here.