The New UFLAA: Providing Needed Standards for Efficiency and Fairness

Abstract

This short essay discusses the new Uniform Family Law Arbitration Act, a statutory framework approved by the Uniform Law Commission in 2016 to guide the growing use of contractual arbitration to resolve family law disputes. The essay highlights the main provisions of the UFLAA and explains how the drafters had to take account of the potential impact of the Federal Arbitration Act as well as the parens patriae obligation of the states. The author served as chair of the UFLAA Drafting Committee. The full text of the UFLAA is included at the end of the essay; the full text with commentary is available on the Uniform Law Commission website.

Keywords: Arbitration, Family Law, Child Custody, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Civil Procedure