An effective triage system is an essential step in effective dispute management. Family law disputes are no exception. For many years now I have been a strong advocate of early triage to facilitate quicker and less costly dispute resolution. Triage is applied to determine the best options and best strategies to manage and resolve disputes. The result – disputes are resolved earlier, less expensively and with less overall stress imposed on the parties. Many disputes, including family law ones, can be resolved fairly and cost effectively without any need to spend years in the court system. The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has just published a proposal that strongly supports introducing a triage into the family court system. Triage would be used to cut costs and delays by ensuring that disputes that suitable for ADR (alternative dispute resolution) are diverted in that direction early on. Whitelaw Legal Group and its sister business TasdisputesCentre (www.tasdisputescentre.com.au) have been offering triage in family law property disputes to their clients for many years. Disputes that are evaluated during triage as suitable for some ADR process are often fully resolved within 8 weeks at a total cost to both parties of under $10,000. Family Court litigation statistics  reveal that litigated disputes often take 2-3 years to finalise and can cost each party in the vicinity of $50,000 or more each. Call us for more information and book in for a free consultation.