There are headlines in the papers this morning about moving more children cases out of the courtroom and into mediation. The government are starting a consultation period about how best to avoid lengthy court disputes about children. They are keen to reduce the number of people using the Family Courts.
The average amount of time a case takes to complete in the court system has risen from an average of 6 months in 2015 to just under a year now.
If you currently want to have your case heard in the Family Court, you have to first attend a MIAMS meeting. MIAMS is a mediation information and assessment meeting, to learn about whether mediation would work for your dispute. There are some exemptions, but the vast majority of people have to attend one of these meetings.
Mediation can resolve issues between parents by improving communication. However, the work that we carry out for our clients often involves more complex issues for example, risk of abduction, cases with a domestic abuse background, risk of harm due to parental alienation or alienating behaviour or a parent seeking permission to relocate with a child. These disputes are usually not suitable for resolution in mediation.
When the court application is submitted, your case goes through a gatekeeping process, to allocate the case to a full time judge, or to magistrates. Magistrates are not legal professionals, but members of the public with no connection to the legal profession. Magistrates volunteer for at least 13 days a year and are unpaid. The have support from a legal adviser to help them understand the law. The case is then listed for a first hearing in court.
The proposed changes to this process include
- A requirement for parents will have to attend a mandatory shared parenting programme before they can make an application to court.
- Parents to pay each other’s legal costs if they unreasonably pursue an issue in court or do not make a reasonable attempt at mediation or to accept a reasonable offer in the case.
- Increase to the court application fee. It is currently £232.
These are suggested changes to try to limit and deter people from using the Family Courts. However, our experience is that the Family Court has a very important role to play in resolving issues between parents for the benefit of children and the right to access the Family Court must be preserved.
