Family court bill’s reforms ‘will make it worse, not better’
Groups representing domestic violence survivors, unmarried parents and children’s rights are urgently calling on the Government to change an upcoming bill on the family courts.
The Family Courts Bill 2022 is designed to make the justice system fairer, efficient and more family focused. It proposes to establish a dedicated Family High Court, Family Circuit Court and Family District Court within the existing court system.
But there are concerns about the Government’s plans to move non-contentious family law matters to the district court. While the Department of Justice has said that this would minimise the costs for litigants, a group of NGOs yesterday claimed that “the proposed move of cases to the already over-burdened and over-stretched district court will make things worse, not better”.
The group includes Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Network Ireland, Safe Ireland, One Family, Treoir, Dublin Solicitors Bar Association, Cork Family Lawyers Association, Clinical Assessors in Family Law Ireland CLG, and the Law Society.
“The Family Courts Bill should be amended to retain divorce, separation, cohabitation, and civil partnership cases in the Circuit Court and also to invest in reform of the existing District Family Court, rather than duplicate the system that already exists in the Circuit Family Court,” the groups said.
They have also said the proposed law should better protect children, couples experiencing relationship breakdown and survivors of domestic violence from “unsafe” situations in the court. They have called for the bill to clarify that cases involving domestic and sexual violence should be exempt from Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) – a process used to avoid litigation.
“People who have cause to use the family court are particularly vulnerable. Survivors of sexual and domestic violence, including children, must be at the centre of family courts reform,” Clíona Saidléar, the executive director of Rape Crisis Network Ireland, said.
“This means the process must be accessible, with each stage easily understood and meaningful, these stages should be dealt with promptly, the expertise should be appropriate, and users should not be asked to pay for court ordered assessments.
“Very importantly, the process should not be readily open to manipulation by a party who seeks to continue abusive and controlling behaviour through using the process itself.”