Family law cases to take longer after legal changes

Major changes to Ireland’s family law rules will mean some cases will take significantly longer to handle and will require more children to come before judges to give testimony, it has emerged.

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald brought a number of powers included in the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 into force this week, including one that will give single parents greater rights.

The Courts Service has said it is difficult to say what the impact of the new legislation will be on cases, but some will take longer to be dealt with because of the increased scrutiny required.

“There will be more inquiries which courts have to make and more evidence to be gathered – including hearing the voice of the child,” a spokesman told The Irish Times.

The legislation, which also makes changes to access and custody rules, was passed last April and sections dealing with adoption and assisted human reproduction have not yet come into effect.

From now on, fathers who have lived with the mother of their children for 12 months or more, including three months after birth, will automatically become guardians, instead of having to go to court to fight for the right.

However, the clock on the time spent living with the mother of their children will start to run only from Monday.

A parent’s spouse, civil partner or cohabitant can seek guardianship if they have been living together for three years or more, and grandparents or other relatives can also seek to be guardians under certain conditions.

Relatives will also be able to apply more easily for access when a relationship has broken down. Children of civil partners will have the same protections as those of married parents.

Under the legislation, in all decisions on custody, access and guardianship, a judge is required to make the best interests of the child paramount.

It lists how judges can assess the best interests of a child, including hearing the views of the child, and says the judge “shall facilitate the free expression by the child of those views”.

Other than guardians ad litem, who are appointed to speak to children and express their views and best interests to the court, there is no network of trained specialists available to courts to hear and transmit the voice of the child, the spokesman said.

“Therefore, the instances of judges asking for children to come to court so that they may hear from them directly is likely to increase,” he said.

He said the service was engaged in a consultation with stakeholders in Dublin to increase the numbers of family law courts sitting.

Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, said she expected to see people returning to court to see if they could change custody and access arrangements.

Call for reform of courts

“For the last six months we have been receiving a lot of calls from members of the public; they have been asking us when the legislation is coming into force,” she said.

“The key case that comes up a lot has been: ‘My child doesn’t want to visit the other parent and the judge didn’t take account of their views and when can my child’s voice be heard’?”

Ms Ward called for reform of the family law courts as soon as possible to ensure judges had the skills, facilities and resources they needed to implement the new legislation.