Navigating Family Disputes: The Power of Arbitration

Sun, Jun 15th, 2025 | by Miles Mediation and Arbitration | Article | Social Share

By Ketan Soni

In today’s increasingly complex legal landscape, finding efficient ways to resolve family disputes has become paramount. While traditional litigation remains an option, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods like arbitration offer compelling advantages to the parties involved.

Arbitration: A Structured Alternative to Court

Arbitration represents a formalized process within the ADR spectrum that provides a structured and flexible approach to resolving disputes. At its core, arbitration involves an impartial third party—the arbitrator—who reviews evidence, hears arguments and makes a binding decision. Unlike mediation, which facilitates negotiation between parties, arbitration ends with a definitive ruling.

The Importance of the Right Arbitrator

Because arbitration is a customized approach to resolving disputes, choosing the right arbitrator is critical. While arbitrators are not required to possess legal credentials, the overwhelming majority are attorneys with specialized experience. North Carolina does not have certification requirements for most arbitration work, and this makes careful selection particularly important.

When choosing an arbitrator for family matters, parties should prioritize individuals with:

• Extensive knowledge of family law
• Specific experience with the issues in dispute
• A reputation for fairness and impartiality
• Potential certification from respected organizations

Organizations like Miles Mediation and Arbitration and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers provide background information about arbitrators, including the certification programs they have taken. This can help you identify qualified professionals. (Additional credentials often signal a deeper commitment to arbitration best practices and standards.)

The Privacy Advantage: Keeping Family Matters Confidential

One of the most compelling benefits of arbitration in family disputes is the significant privacy it affords. Unlike court proceedings, which are public record, arbitration offers a confidential environment where sensitive family matters remain private.

This privacy manifests in several important ways:

• The arbitration functions as a private trial.
• Evidence and exhibits remain confidential (except for the final award confirmation).
• All sessions must include all parties and their representatives, eliminating private meetings that could compromise neutrality.

For families concerned about maintaining dignity and discretion through difficult transitions, this confidentiality can prove invaluable. For business owners going through divorce who are worried about competitors spying on private data, this confidential proceeding is crucial. For children going through hotly contested proceedings, keeping the dirty laundry out of the public eye and away from children’s peers is critical, especially in this day and age where most court information is publicly available.

Flexibility: Tailoring the Process to Your Needs

Unlike the rigid structure of courtroom litigation, arbitration offers remarkable flexibility that can be customized to each party’s unique circumstances. This adaptability extends to multiple aspects of the process, including the following:

Scheduling Freedom

Participants can arrange arbitration dates around their existing commitments rather than conforming to court-imposed schedules. This accommodation proves especially valuable for:

• Professional obligations and travel constraints
• Coordinating with expert witnesses
• Allocating sufficient time for complex matters
• Getting in front of a decision-maker much more quickly compared to the trial courts

Issue Selection

Arbitration allows parties to precisely define which issues require resolution. This targeted approach means that if child support is the only contentious issue, the arbitration can focus exclusively on that matter without reopening settled aspects of the dispute.

Procedural Adaptability

The arbitration process allows parties to modify evidentiary rules and procedural formalities to streamline the process. This flexibility often results in more efficient proceedings while still maintaining essential fairness.

Efficiency and Finality: Moving Forward With Certainty

The efficiency of arbitration compared to traditional litigation represents another significant advantage.

Court dockets are notoriously congested, often leading to lengthy delays and prolonged uncertainty. By contrast, arbitrators can generally rule on preliminary issues much more quickly than courts, helping to establish momentum toward resolution.

While arbitrators must adhere to the law in their decisions, challenging an arbitration ruling is considerably more difficult than appealing a court judgment. This limited oversight further enhances the finality of the process.

Cost Considerations: Economic Efficiency

Arbitration requires payment for the arbitrator’s services. However, this often proves most cost- effective as compared to protracted court battles. This is because attorneys, experts, and witnesses are not “in line” behind other litigants at the courthouse, and arbitration cases are typically not continued the way court cases are. Each court continuance requires the attorney and expert to prepare over again, usually many months after the original court date.

Because evidence is also streamlined and formality is lessened, arbitration greatly reduces the amount of time to prepare and provide a foundation for evidence. For most situations, the upfront investment in arbitration ultimately yields significant financial benefits while providing faster resolution and more tailored results.

Arbitration Can Often Replace Litigation

Arbitration proves particularly valuable when negotiations have reached an impasse and litigation seems inevitable. It offers a pragmatic middle ground that preserves many litigation benefits while mitigating the negative aspects of court.

A Viable Path Forward

As family disputes grow increasingly complex, arbitration has emerged as a sophisticated path to resolution. By offering the finality of litigation while preserving flexibility and privacy, it addresses nearly all aspects of family law litigation. When agreement seems impossible but court seems excessive, arbitration provides a hybrid, structured path to move forward.