What disclosure do parties owe each other before starting family arbitration in Ontario?

Family arbitration generally still requires the parties to exchange relevant disclosure before or at the start of the process, much like litigation or mediation does, since the arbitrator needs an accurate picture of the situation to make a fair, informed decision. For disputes involving support or property, this typically means financial disclosure, such as income information and details of significant assets and debts, while parenting-focused disputes may call for different kinds of relevant information depending on what's actually at issue between the parents.

Choosing arbitration over court doesn't lower the expectation of honest, complete disclosure; if anything, because arbitration is a more private, less formally supervised process than court, both the arbitrator and each party's own lawyer play an important role in making sure disclosure obligations are actually met. Incomplete or misleading disclosure can undermine the fairness of the whole process and potentially expose the resulting award to later challenge. Anyone starting family arbitration should discuss with their lawyer exactly what disclosure is expected for their specific dispute before the process begins, rather than assuming a one-size-fits-all list applies.