Ten Years of the Family Court
Most of those who use the Family Court in England and Wales will not be aware that it is a relatively recent invention.
Until the Family Court was created ten years ago most family court business was conducted by County Courts and Magistrates’ Courts.
The two different courts dealt with different aspects of family law and had different procedures. Confusingly, however, certain types of family cases could be dealt with by both County Courts and Magistrates’ Courts, such as domestic abuse cases.
In 2011 the Family Justice Review recommended that the system be streamlined by the creation of a single family court, with a single point of entry and set of procedures. The recommendation was taken up, and the Family Court was established in 2014.
Now the Family Court has published its first annual report, for the period October 2023 to September 2024.
The report details the activity of the Family Court during the year, and developments that have taken place during that time.
The report begins by setting out the work of the Family Court: “The Family Court decides matters relating to marriage, divorce and financial remedies, protection from domestic abuse, child arrangements, child protection, adoption, child abduction, surrogacy, forced marriage and female genital mutilation.”
Most of the Family Court’s time is taken up by dealing with cases involving child protection, child arrangements disputes between parents, divorce and financial remedies. And figures in the report for the activity of the Court in these areas throw up some interesting points.
For example, there is a statutory requirement that public law care proceedings should be completed within a 26-week time period. However, the report tells us that in 2023 only 29% of cases were completed within that time period, with the average case taking 43.5 weeks.
As to private law cases concerning disputes between parents over arrangements for their children, the report gives an indication of just how busy the Family Court is with dealing with these cases. It tells us, for example, that in 2023 the Court received more than 50,000 such cases, involving nearly 78,000 children.
As to divorce and civil partnership dissolution, 110,000 applications were made in 2023, taking an average of 39 weeks to be completed.
And as to financial remedy cases we are told that approximately 14% of final orders were made at contested final hearings, with the other 86% being settled beforehand.
As mentioned above, the report also details developments in the Family Court over the year.
For example, the report discusses two initiatives aimed at finding a better way for separated parents to resolve disputes over arrangements for their children. The first initiative is the piloting of new ‘Pathfinder’ courts, which prioritise a focus on the impact of parental disputes on the child, and the second encourages parents to resolve disputes by agreement out of court, for example through mediation.
The report also highlighted work being done to make the Family Court more open, so that the public has a better understanding of what it does. The work includes the piloting of a new system allowing greater reporting in the Family Court. The pilot is now in operation in approximately half of all Family Court areas, with the intention for it to be introduced in all remaining courts in early 2025.
But, as the President of the Family Division points out in a foreword:
“Beneath these headlines, the real work of the court continues, day-in day-out, throughout England and Wales, with dedicated judges, magistrates, court staff, social workers, children’s guardians and practitioners applying themselves, case by case, to the resolution of family discord and the protection of the vulnerable.”
You can read the full report here.
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