Australia has taken an innovative approach to arbitration in divorce cases, as a way to reduce the pain, time, and expense of divorce disputes.
The federal Attorney-General of Australia has implemented a private arbitration system for divorce disputes. To reduce the glut of divorce cases, Australia will now authorize specially trained divorce lawyers to arbitrate disagreements between husbands and wives. The arbitrators won’t have authority to rule on child custody disputes but will be able to resolve all the money issues.
Divorcing couples will have the option to select their own arbitrator or choose one from a list provided by the court. Arbitrators will set their own fees, and couples would be free to shop among arbitrators based on whatever factors they want to consider, including price.