The Family Court and Federal Circuit Court of Australia are struggling to keep up with the large number of new matters being filed (over 100,000 in 2015/16 alone). In many cases, families are not receiving a final hearing (in some cases even an urgent interim hearing) for 2 to 3 years. Decisions then not being handed down for months, if not years thereafter.
The need for parties to consider mediation has never been more vital.
Recently the Family Court of Australia’s Chief Justice, Diana Bryant said, “Australia’s Family Court is letting families down because of huge backlogs and lack of resources and that there are very vulnerable people caught up in the system and at the moment we are powerless to do a lot about it,”
Chief Justice Bryant said while overall delays in the Family Court were about 17 months from filing to hearing, some people have to wait up to three years to get their case to trial.
“There are very vulnerable people caught up in the system and at the moment we are powerless to do a lot about it,” she said.
“I think the system is letting the people down.”
In 2015-16 almost 85,000 family law applications were filed to the Federal Circuit Court and more than 20,000 applications made to the Family Court.
The Chief Justice said the court was so under-resourced it had no ability to provide any post-order service to check whether family orders were being complied with.
“I feel as though the Government doesn’t understand the effect this is having on families,” she said.
Chief Justice Bryant called on the Federal Government to boost funding to the courts to provide money for registrars and family consultants to ease pressure on the system.
Last month four senators took up the call, passing a motion calling for action in the federal courts system.
Do you have a parenting and / or property dispute presently before the Court? Or are you about to commence one?
Contact Affirmative Mediations now and find out how we can help you resolve your dispute quickly and for a small fraction of the cost of going to Court.
Full copy of the Article: The ABC