New Family Law reform trials resolving parenting issues without lawyers or the Family Court

Thursday, 7 December, 2017

Australians interact with the family law system more than any other area of law, and the courts are not coping.

The government is moving to find solutions to repair the system that is currently failing.

A trial is underway that could lead to the biggest overhaul of Australia’s flawed family law system in 40 years.

Attorney-General George Brandis was reported in the Courier-Mail saying, “children should not be treated the same way as property”. Senator Brandis said he wanted to dramatically reform the system that he said was geared towards conflict and allow parents to avoid involving family lawyers or getting bogged down in the court process.

Legislation was introduced into Parliament on Wednesday, with the pilot program to start in July next year. The program will encourage self-litigants to bypass the Family Law Court and engage with mediators and social service providers.

There are many parents in Australia who will agree with Senator Brandis that it currently takes too long for families to resolve custody issues and the court system which is adversarial by nature and encourages the notion od winners and losers inflames already strained interactions between parents.

“Where possible, we need to move people away from the current system, which can entrench conflict and blame by positioning parents as adversaries, cross-examining each other, and often over prolonged periods with enduring conflict the result.

Senator Brandis said drug abuse, violence, mental illness and the emergence of problem gambling contributed to family breakdowns.

“This is unhealthy and unhelpful for separating couples and it has a terrible, even damaging, impact on children,” he added.

It could mean that parents negotiating over child custody could be linked to housing support if one parent does not live in appropriate housing for child visits, or be offered drug and alcohol support for addiction, or services for mental health problems.

“The Government is investing $12.7 million to pilot Parenting Management Hearings, a new non-adversarial alternative to court processes for resolving less complex family law disputes. “This will provide quicker, cheaper and less confrontational arrangements for separating families. Importantly, it will also link parents to key support services if needed to minimise the intensity of any conflict and better support families and children,” he said.

“I have initiated the first comprehensive review of the family law system since the commencement of the Family Law Act in 1976 to pave the way for reforms that better meet the needs of modern families.”

The “Parenting Management Hearings”, will run over four years and start in Parramatta. A second trial location, which could be Queensland, has not yet been announced.

An exhaustive report from the Law Reform Commission into the Family Law Act is due in 2019.

Published by: Divorce Resource