All Change in Family Law

From 22 April 2014 there will be a single family court and all work carried out by the family proceedings court and the county court will be carried out by the new family court. Geographical areas will be given a designated family judge who will deal with the allocation of cases to ensure continuity for families involved in this process.

As well as the new family court, from 22 April 2014 the Chid Arrangements Programme comes into force. This sees the abolition of Residence and Contact Orders and we will now see Child Arrangement Orders instead. Couples are being urged to look at alternatives to court and look at all other dispute resolution processes that exist. Couples will be signposted to Parent Information programmes and mediation. Indeed if court proceedings become inevitable the applicant will have to show to the court that they have attended a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM). Without proof of this their application will not be issued. Family Judges will also have the ability to adjourn proceedings so that couples can attend mediation unless there are reasons that this is inappropriate, such as extreme levels of domestic violence.

The Child Arrangements Programme has been designed to assist families in reaching safe and child-focused agreements for their child where possible, away from the court setting. It has long been recognised that negotiated agreements between adults generally enhance long-term co-operation and are far better for the child or children concerned.