Succession: Dispute Resolution

(asked on 6th September 2018) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will assess the potential merits of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in relation to inheritance estate dispute cases in the civil court.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 14th September 2018

The department supports the use of ADR in all appropriate cases and will be carefully considering the report of the Civil Justice Council on the greater use of ADR in the civil justice system in general when it is published later this year.

The Ministry of Justice has no plans to carry out an assessment of the merits of alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) procedures, such as mediation, conciliation and expert determination in relation to inheritance disputes in the civil court.

ADR procedures can be used to resolve inheritance estate disputes, whether or not they involve civil court proceedings. In all civil court proceedings, including those relating to inheritance, the Civil Procedure Rules require the court to further the overriding objective of dealing with cases justly and at proportionate cost. This includes encouraging the parties to use ADR, if the court considers that approach to be appropriate, and facilitating the use of the procedure.

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