What is a Private FDR?
A private Financial Dispute Resolution is a voluntary hearing where the separating couple privately hires a judge for a day to provide an evaluation of the likely outcome of the financial matters. Parties must therefore be in agreement and invest in coming to an agreement if possible through this form of resolution. Although the process is similar to that of FDR's conducted in court, it takes place outside the court arena and the lawyer or former judge presiding over it is paid privately for their time by the parties and it is governed by specific rules.
The Parties will pay for a financial remedy specialist to act as a private FDR judge and that person may be a solicitor, barrister or retired judge with sufficient experience to be able to provide in evaluation. To preside over a private FDR no additional qualifications are required.
Private FDRs are often overlooked and underused but can offer a privately funded substitute to enable parties to effectively leapfrog slow progress through the court system itself, where they're able to do so with proactive and resolution focused respective lawyers.
What are the benefits?
Parties have more control over the FDR hearing enabling them to choose the judge, date, and location.
The speed the parties are likely to agree a private FDR date will be much earlier than the date they are likely given by the court for an FDR which in many cases takes several months.
They are conducted by a specialist in the financial remedy arena.
You often also have the benefit of complete judicial availability for the private FDR in that the judge sitting at the private FDR will devote the whole day to that FDR and be available to be called upon for guidance as and when required, whereas a court based judge is likely to have a busy list and will have a limited amount of time to devote to each case.
- A private FDR offers a greater degree of comfort and privacy as parties and their legal teams have their own private rooms which is never guaranteed in a busy court building. Court buildings can lack privacy, are often not discreet or indeed comfortable.
Why Choose Us?
Our Solicitors have significant experience as advocates and legal negotiators placing them as some of the best in the business to offer you representation in a private FDR.
We can offer you representation throughout and also have excellent connections to recommend and connect with highly experienced barristers’ judges who can offer privately funded FDR hearings at reasonable and cost-effective price point with availability to proceed.
To obtain further information or to instruct us please complete this short form here.
We offer different service levels, so you can choose what is right for you.
We can be by your side every step of the way on our PAYG fees option, or you may prefer to choose a more budget friendly option with our ‘essentials’ fixed fee services.
