Average Family Court Case Duration is 46 Weeks in 2023: Rollits Suggest Families Consider Mediation

With Family Mediation Week coming up on 22^nd January, Rollits want to raise awareness of the many advantages of mediation, as statistics show court case duration reaches an all-time high.

Hull and York family law firm, Rollits, are taking this opportunity to urge families to consider mediation for their disputes and issues to save them time, money, and stress. This comes after recent Family Court Statistics, which depict a record high for court case length.

Family Mediation Week - 22^nd-26^th January 2024 – serves as an opportunity to raise awareness of the benefits family mediation can bring to separating families. The aim is to encourage separating couples to consider mediation in order to create a more amicable split, where both parties can take control and make decisions together for the future.

Taking a deep dive into the Family Court statistics over the past 10+ years, it is clear that the more traditional process is both time consuming and costly for families. The latest data shows that the 5-year average for court cases to close stands at 34 weeks for private law (children and finance) matters.

This is the highest 5-year average ever recorded, with 5-year averages as follows:

• 2011-15: 30 weeks
• 2012-16: 28 weeks
• 2013-17: 26 weeks
• 2014-18: 25 weeks
• 2015-19: 25 weeks
• 2016-20: 26 weeks
• 2017-21: 30 weeks
• 2018-22: 34 weeks

Even more shockingly, the most recent data – released in December 2023 - pertaining to Q3 (July to September) of 2023 reveals that the average number of weeks taken to conclude a case in 2023 was 46 weeks (around 10 months). If Q4 continues this way, we’re looking at a 5-year average of 38 weeks this year.

In comparison, the Family Mediation Council says it usually takes between three and five mediation meetings to come to an agreement, depending on what you need to sort out.

As such, the upcoming national Family Mediation Week is the perfect opportunity to inform families of the many facets of mediation. In fact, families can consider utilising this forum for the following issues:

• Parenting arrangements for children
• Direct consultation with children
• Grandparents contact arrangements
• Financial issues – including division of assets and income
• Pre Nuptial Issues
• Post Nuptial Issues
• Cohabitation Issues
• Separation Issues
• Divorce and separation
• How to communicate with each other

Alison Benson, Partner and Head of Family at Rollits, said, “Family law issues are almost always stressful for everyone involved, and have the potential to be incredibly divisive. If each individual situation does not receive the utmost care and bespoke treatment, it can leave families suffering irreparably.

“Not only this, but families may be left out of pocket, as lengthy court cases can cost a huge amount of money, as well as taking up unnecessary time. This further adds to the pressure of the situation

“Family courts can be a rather restrictive way of coming to a solution; a clinical process that may not consider the emotions at play. Alternatively, family mediation offers an impartial party who can guide families to a solution that works for them and their family, that they both feel is fair. It allows them to not only solve the current problems afoot, but to look forward to a future that is bright and hopeful.”

Looking for a family mediation solicitor to help with your family related issue? Be sure to get in touch with the team at Rollits by calling 01482 323239, or heading to their contact page.

Data Sources

• Family Court Statistics Quarterly: July to September 2023 on the UK site, Tables 8 and 9.

Methodology

Table 8 notes – Public Law data:

• The number of disposals relate to the number of children subject to each order, where an application for a Care or Supervision Order was made. This number is not the same as any numbers given in the Public law CSV file because it covers applications for a Care or Supervision order which can have been made in that or any earlier quarter, and only considers a restricted range of disposal events (see Note 2).
• Valid disposal types are Care orders, Supervision orders, Residence orders, Special Guardianship orders, Orders refused, Orders of No Order and Applications withdrawn.
• The median duration is the time within which half the cases reach a disposal, and provides a more representative measure of how long cases take compared with the average (mean) in situations where the data are skewed, with a few very long-duration cases.
• Some figures may have been revised from previous publications. Minimal changes may be observed in earlier years, whilst larger changes may be seen in more recent quarters
• Public law data issues: As a result of Reform for Family Public Law, there are data issues that affect a number of data series (across Tables 2,4,7,8 and 10). Please refer to the 'Data Quality issues' section of the accompanying bulletin for further details.

Table 9 notes - Private Law data

• Only Private law (Children Act) cases which have been marked as "closed" or with a "final" order have been included in these figures.
• The median duration is the time within which half the cases reach a disposal, and provides a more representative measure of how long cases take compared with the average (mean) in situations where the data are skewed, with a few very long-duration cases.
• Some figures may have been revised from previous publications. Minimal changes may be observed in earlier years, whilst larger changes may be seen in more recent quarters.