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02 May 2019 / Amy Fox
Issue: 7838 / Categories: Features , Family , Arbitration , ADR
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To arbitrate or not to arbitrate?

What if you advise your client to pursue arbitration, only for them to receive an unfavourable result? Amy Fox weighs up the pros & cons of arbitration in family cases

  • Even though the options available to challenge an arbitral award are extremely limited, there are nonetheless many advantages to the arbitration route in family cases.

The recent case B C v BG [2019] EWFC 7, [2019] All ER (D) 142 (Jan) concerned an application by a wife for a judicial decision order that an arbitral award should not be made into a court order. The wife’s application asserted that:

  • there were fundamental and material errors in the arbitrator’s application of the law;
  • the law was applied unfairly;
  • there were various supervening events (including that the level of the maintenance award meant the wife could not obtain a mortgage and that the award did not meet the wife’s and the children’s needs); and
  • that the husband had failed to provide proper financial disclosure /had misled
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Kennedys—Milan Devani

Kennedys—Milan Devani

Chief information officer appointment strengthens technology leadership

Maguire Family Law—Hannah Barlow & Sophie Hughes

Maguire Family Law—Hannah Barlow & Sophie Hughes

Firm strengthens Wilmslow team with two solicitor appointments

DWF—Ian Plumley

DWF—Ian Plumley

Londoninsurance and reinsurance practice announces partner appointment

NEWS
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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