Changes in Family Courts 2014 - What does it mean for me?
What are Family Courts?
Family courts deals with a range of issues, such as children who have been taken into care, divorce, adoption and domestic violence. From April 2014, major changes to the family court system have come into effect with the implementation of the Children and Families Act. The changes have been described as a revolution in family law.
What changes are happening in Family Courts?
Previously, there was a three-tier court system, which has now been replaced with one single Family Court. The changes aim to ‘put children at the heart of the family justice system’ by implementing recommendations made by the Independent Family Justice Review, carried out in 2011.
The new rules can be divided into those covered by public law, which deal with issues such as care proceedings, and private law which is concerned with arrangements such as residence and contact order for children (now replaced by child arrangement orders).
In public law, the key aim of the new arrangements is to speed up the process for children have come into care, so that they are resolved within 26 weeks. In private law, the changes strengthen the existing requirement for all couples who are separating and want to go to court over disputes about finances and child custody to first attend a meeting called a Mediation and Information Assessment Meeting (MIAM). It is hoped that this will again speed up the process and reduce the number of court proceedings by resolving them at an earlier stage through mediation.
Changes to contact and residence orders
Under the new arrangements, contact and residence orders for children whose parents have separated have been replaced by child arrangement orders. One of the more controversial elements of the measures has been the introduction of a presumption that both parents should be involved in a child’s life unless it can be shown that it is not in the best interests of the child, although this provision has yet come into force.
