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Family Court Leaves Children In Uncertainty For Nine Months
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Family Court Leaves Children In Uncertainty For Nine Months

Published on
Alison Bull
Alison Bull
Partner
Mills & Reeve LLP
Donna Morgan
Donna Morgan
Counsellor and Therapist
Donna Morgan Counselling
Jane Ingleby
Jane Ingleby
Partner
Mills & Reeve LLP

 

 

 

 

 

 

Private law family court cases took an average of nine months to conclude over the last two years, meaning children involved in proceedings are effectively spending the equivalent of a full school year or around six summer holidays in legal limbo, new analysis reveals.

The research, conducted by leading law firm Mills & Reeve, used Freedom of Information requests submitted to HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to obtain detailed data on private family court cases across 2024 and 2025, including case volumes, duration, hearing rates and regional variation.

Across private law, the family courts dealt with 44,494 cases in 2024, with an average duration of 41.8 weeks and 2.5 hearings per case. In the first half of 2025, there were 20,075 cases, with an average duration of 39.7 weeks and 2.4 hearings per case.

Commenting on the findings, Alison Bull, partner at Mills & Reeve, said: “It’s clear that too many families are still facing significant delays in the family courts, with cases routinely lasting around nine months. For children, that is not just a legal process on paper, it’s the equivalent of a full school year spent in uncertainty or around six summer holidays. Research shows that outcomes for children and young people can be negatively affected by ongoing parental disagreement and conflict, which can further feed into that uncertainty.

“While there are some signs of modest improvement in parts of the system, overall progress remains limited and uneven. The picture continues to point to sustained pressure on the family courts, with persistent delays and variability in outcomes across different types of cases and regions, indicating that underlying challenges in capacity and timeliness have not yet been fully addressed.”

These delays can prolong disputes and make it more difficult for families to move forward, leaving children without stability or certainty while arrangements remain unresolved. Donna Morgan, an experienced counsellor with more than 26 years of practice supporting children, young people, adults and families, said:

“In my experience, it’s often the uncertainty surrounding separation and divorce that has the greatest emotional impact on children. Children are remarkably resilient when they feel safe, informed and supported. However, when decisions remain unresolved for extended periods, children can be left feeling anxious, confused and emotionally unsettled.

“Children rely on stability and predictability to feel secure. When they are unsure where they will live or when they will see each parent, many begin to worry about things they cannot control. What they need is reassurance, consistency and confidence that the adults around them are working to protect their wellbeing. This can make a significant difference to a child’s emotional health both during separation and in the years that follow.”

Across both years, the North West remained the highest region for hearings per private law family court case across both 2024 and 2025, recording an average of 2.8. Meanwhile, London recorded the lowest average hearings per case in 2024 at 2.3, while Wales recorded the lowest average in 2025 at 2.1.

As a result of these delays, family arbitrations in England and Wales have doubled since 2023, according to figures from the Institute of Family Law Arbitrators. This followed a rule change in 2024 requiring parties to consider alternative forms of dispute resolution before proceeding to court.

Family arbitration is a private process used to resolve financial and children arrangement disputes when couples separate, providing a binding decision without the need for court proceedings where agreement cannot be reached through mediation or negotiation. It can be used to resolve disputes concerning children as well as financial matters.

Jane Ingleby, partner at Mills & Reeve, added: “When court timetables are stretched, families often benefit from considering alternative routes to resolution. Solutions like family arbitration offer a private and structured way to resolve disputes about finances and children without the delays of court. 

“It allows parties to choose an experienced decision-maker, set more flexible timetables and reach binding outcomes more quickly, while maintaining confidentiality. For many separating couples, it can provide a more efficient and focused way of resolving issues at what is often a very difficult time.”

Donna has also shared five tips for parents supporting children through separation:  

  • Provide age-appropriate honesty: Children need truthful information that is appropriate for their age and level of understanding. 
  • Maintain routines wherever possible: Regular routines around school, activities, mealtimes and bedtime help children feel secure.
  • Keep children out of adult conflict: Children should never feel responsible for managing communication between parents or be asked to take sides. 
  • Encourage emotional expression: Create opportunities for children to talk, ask questions, draw, play, or express their emotions in ways that feel comfortable and natural to them. 
  • Offer frequent reassurance: Remind them that the separation is not their fault and that the adults around them are working together to keep them safe and cared for.

Read more articles by Mills & Reeves LLP.

About Alison Bull

Alison is a highly experienced family mediator, financial and children arbitrator, and lawyer. She is passionate about sorting things out without attending court if possible, and used to handling complex, conflictual situations in England & Wales and internationally. She focuses on the bigger picture and the best interests of children, and is an effective litigator when required. Alison helps clients to agree parenting plans, and with issues about property, businesses, trusts, pensions and international assets. As well as working with individuals, she has conducted many cases working with separating couples who want to reach agreement together in mediation or with the advice of one lawyer.

About Donna Morgan

Donna Morgan is an experienced counsellor with more than 26 years of practice supporting children, young people, adults and families. She specialises in anxiety, trauma, family relationships, separation and emotional wellbeing. Drawing on a humanistic and trauma-informed approach, Donna helps parents and children navigate significant life transitions with greater emotional safety, resilience and understanding.

Alongside her private practice in Surrey, Donna has extensive experience working within educational settings and supporting families through periods of change, conflict and emotional challenge. Her work focuses on helping parents better understand their children’s emotional needs while building healthier communication and stronger family relationships during times of transition.

About Jane Ingleby

Jane is a highly experienced family law solicitor, with a particular focus on complex financial and children matters. Her practice includes high-conflict child arrangements, allegations of alienating behaviours and domestic abuse, UK and international relocation and surrogacy.

She is also highly skilled in advising on the financial aspects of separation, especially in cases involving businesses and trusts. In addition, Jane provides expert guidance on wealth protection, including pre- and post-nuptial agreements.

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family mediation

Can Family Law Arbitration be The White Knight of a Tricky Divorce ?

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Suzy Miller of Alternative Divorce Guide

Should more mediators be paying attention to family arbitration?  It has after all been shown to quite effective in the US and Canada and is known to be able to rescue a mediated divorce from crumbling into a nasty expensive court battle.

My interest in finding out more about family arbitration was originally sparked by a conversation with New York Mediator Ken Neumann, who described how useful arbitrators could be in un-sticking a mediation process. “Sometimes,” he explained to me, “the couple can’t agree on one issue, and they just want someone else to decide for them.”

Family Arbitration is the new kid on the block in the family law community in England and Wales, and the potential benefits to divorcing clients are immense. An excellent talk given by UK Arbitrator Mena Ruparel convinced me that the rise of family arbitration in the UK was a cause worth supporting.

I made contact with several Arbitrators and to my surprise, received a cascade of responses! I was struck by the obvious passion and enthusiasm for arbitration amongst a wide range of family law professionals who have qualified as family arbitrators, ranging from barristers, mediators and collaborative lawyers. I include their contributions in the following articles, with thanks.

What is family arbitration for?

According to Nadia Beckett of Beckett Solicitors, “Arbitration is a fantastic tool for resolving issues where there is an agreement on most things but perhaps just one sticking point. However it can also be used where no agreements have been reached.”

Solicitors and mediators should understand the importance of family law arbitration and should always consider it as an option for their clients. As the courts grind to a standstill through financial cuts, the withdrawal of most legal aid and years of under-funding, it is becoming increasingly difficult for separating couples to resolve their issues quickly and efficiently.

Arbitration is flexible. It can be used by litigants who are legally represented and those who are not. It can be a lot less formal than going to court and it can be used to resolve a single financial issue or all financial issues.

There is still a degree of ignorance amongst solicitors, barristers and mediators about FamilyArbitration and a mistaken view that Arbitration is just for rich people.

That is not the case and ultimately it can actually work out cheaper than going to court as the parties have much more control over the process. Unfortunately family Arbitration cannot be used to resolve disputes over children.”

family mediation
Family arbitration can actually work out cheaper than going to court.

Suzanne Kingston, Family Partner at Withers LLP, spearheaded the Family Arbitration course in England and Wales and has been involved in training all of the family arbitrators to date.

She believes that arbitration is likely to become more prevalent than ever due to the problems with the current court system.

She advocates considering arbitration as an alternative and suggests thinking about this at the beginning and part-way through a case to ensure that clients are given every available opportunity.

 How could family arbitration come to the rescue of a non-adversarial divorce process?

“It can save a family mediation from failure when one or two stubborn issues remain. The Arbitrator can be instructed just to resolve those remaining points over which the parties have agreed to disagree. The unpleasant conflict of a court case is thereby avoided, the settlement remains one achieved in a consensual manner.“ David Walden-Smith MCIArb, Barrister & Family Arbitrator

In other parts of the world, including the United States and Canada, when family mediation process founders an arbitrator is brought in, if the couple wish it, to resolve the disagreement for them.

This is also how it can work here – but currently not enough solicitors are informing divorcing couples adequately of this option.

Should family mediation prove unsuccessful, for instance, instead of ending up in court a divorce arbitrator could help unravel that single sticking point and quickly (compared to waiting months for a court date).

Unfortunately (in my opinion) this move towards working with a divorce arbitrator is only possible in the case of an unsuccessful mediation process but not in the case of an ineffectual Collaborative Law process.

Family arbitration
Instead of ending up in court family arbitration could help

Even if a financial planner gives clear advice on how a pension could be split or the division of property assets, it may be that the parties would like an adjudication from the arbitrator who will write their award and make a legally binding decision.

The arbitrator can also deal with discrete elements of a case so if there is a mediation where there is one issue that needs to be resolved, this can be referred to arbitration keeping the rest of the agreement in tact.

It would seem sensible for McKenzie Friend’s to acquaint themselves with the benefits of arbitration to provide a much needed resource for couples whose usual choice may be to go to court without representation from a lawyer. However there seems to be a reluctance at this early stage to encourage self representing litigants to consider arbitration as an option en masse.

And how will divorcing and separating families in general get to know about family arbitration as an option? It seems that it will rely on solicitors sharing the good news. And there’s the rub.

Nigel Shepherd of Mills & Reeve LLP states, “On arbitration, I remain of the view that the key market for some time to come is going to be family law professionals, but that is certainly intended to include mediators. 

Whilst the advantages of the scheme in terms of speed, flexibility and confidentiality etc are easy to convey, the details of exactly how the scheme works (interaction with court, restrictions on involving third parties etc) are rather more esoteric and the main task to date has been to try to get mainly lawyers to understand these issues and indeed to recognise that it isn’t mediation or collab.”

So it seems to me that family arbitration could well be the White Knight who charges in at just the right moment to save the family mediation damsel from being gobbled up by the dragon of a courtroom divorce battle, rescuing the family from all the additional costs and misery of a full scale adversarial divorce.

But will the news about this new tool in the divorce toolbox be able to get through the castle gates if the drawbridge is kept locked and bolted, because solicitors and the public remain largely oblivious to it’s benefits?

For more information regarding Family Arbitration, refer to the IFLA website: ifla.org.uk

 

Suzy Miller

Alternative Divorce Guide

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