Family court problems 'need to be addressed'

10 June 2010



Family courts throughout the country are in need of an overhaul if they are to meet the everyday needs of the people who use them, Sir Mark Potter has claimed. The former president of the family division highlighted that an increasing number of cases are being dealt with by the family courts, so more attention must be paid to making them as effective as possible.

At present, he suggested to the Guardian, some cases are facing long delays which could be putting people at risk. More resources therefore need to be allocated to ensure courts can meet the needs of clients and deal with the growing demand for their services.

Furthermore, the opening up of family courts to the media has been met with some scepticism, Sir Mark explained, although these criticisms have largely been dispelled. "I reluctantly supported the change to more open courts because it had got to the point of allegations being made of secret justice and injustice taking place behind closed doors," he explained.

Petrova Caldecourt, associate in the family law team, comments: "More needs to be done to assist the court and prevent the long delays that can occur in the court process as this only serves to prolong matters, increasing tensions between parties when emotions are already running high, which ultimately goes against the court and all parties objectives which are to resolve matters as amicably as possible"

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Posted by Petrova Caldecourt

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