Family Justice Bill to be tabled in Parliament

Set-up of Divorce Support Specialist Agencies among suggestions to be implemented to minimise conflict
By Laura Elizabeth Philomin, TODAY, 5 Jul 2014

A Family Justice Bill will be tabled in Parliament next week and the proposed Family Justice Courts could be set up as early as the end of the year after the Government yesterday accepted the recommendations from a committee tasked to look at ways to minimise ugly, drawn-out tussles between estranged couples.

Among the slew of recommendations that will be implemented is the setting up of four new Divorce Support Specialist Agencies in the coming months to provide services such as non-legal advice, case management by social workers, counselling and family dispute management.

From next year, these agencies, among others, will conduct pre-filing consultation sessions for couples who have young children and are seeking divorce.

The sessions will help parents understand the importance of co-parenting and impact of divorce on children.

The Committee for Family Justice — co-chaired by Senior Minister of State (Law and Education) Indranee Rajah and Judge of Appeal V K Rajah — was created early last year. Between May and last month, it conducted a month-long public consultation on its interim recommendations.

The feedback “expressed broad support” for the proposals, said the committee. Among other things, the public feedback reiterated the need to place a child’s best interests and welfare at the centre of the family justice system, reduce acrimony and help families resolve disputes early.

On the recommendations, Ms Indranee stressed that families “should be saved as far as possible and court proceedings should be brought only as a last resort”. “If notwithstanding this, a family still ends up in the court system, the court process should not worsen the anguish that the family is undergoing,” she said, adding that this was underlined by feedback from the public and stakeholders.

Other proposals include simplifying and streamlining court processes and practices, as well as assigning Court Friends to provide administrative and emotional support for unrepresented litigants. Court mental health professionals will work with families and provide judges with information to make a considered decision in a child’s best interest.

The committee also recommended empowering the court to appoint child representatives to independently represent children in appropriate cases.

On the Divorce Support Specialist Agencies, Ms Ong Toon Hui, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), said the Government would tap voluntary welfare organisations which were already running family services to start the new service.

In a joint statement, the Ministry of Law and MSF said the key thrusts of the recommendations were to provide better support to families to help them resolve disputes and create a “comprehensive specialist family court structure” known as the Family Justice Courts.

The new framework will “realise the vision of a more robust family justice system, which will better protect and support our families”, said the ministries.

Less painful divorces under new system
Children will get more protection based on family justice proposals
By Selina Lum, The Straits Times, 5 Jul 2014

DIVORCES will be resolved more effectively and less painfully as the authorities accepted recommendations for a new family justice system.

The interests of children at the centre of a divorce will also be further protected, based on the proposals of a committee to help families going though a troubled marriage.

A key aim is to move proceedings away from an adversarial approach, said Senior Minister of State for Law and Education Indranee Rajah yesterday.

The two main thrusts of the recommendations were to save marriages where possible and, for those who end up getting a divorce, to make the court process less painful for them.

"I don't think you're going to have a situation where it's painless or you're going to avoid emotional trauma, but the idea is that the court process should not make things worse, especially emotionally," said Ms Indranee, co-chair of the inter-agency Committee for Family Justice, at a press conference.

In its report, the committee found that distressed families may not know where to turn to for help.

Frontline personnel at hospitals and family service centres should thus be trained to identify and refer them to the appropriate agencies, it suggested.

The committee also recommended setting up divorce support specialist agencies, adding to the three existing family violence specialist agencies.

More importantly, the interests of the children must be utmost in a marital break up.

Before parties with minor children can file for divorce, they have to go through a pre- filing consultation, suggested the committee.This session - mandatory unless the couple can agree on issues such as custody - aims to help parents understand how a divorce will impact their children.

The committee also recommended that a new body of courts, known as the Family Justice Courts, be established.

This will comprise the existing family division of the High Court, and the Family Court and Juvenile Court, which are part of the State Courts. It will be headed by the Presiding Judge of the Family Justice Courts. The Juvenile Court should also be renamed to the more neutral Youth Court.

A Family Justice Bill to establish this new structure will be tabled in Parliament next week.

Also, in high-conflict cases involving custody and access, the court should be empowered to appoint a child representative to be the child's independent voice in court.

The committee also recommended measures to make the divorce process simpler and less agonising. These include different management tracks for cases with different issues, streamlining court forms and procedures and a "court friend" scheme to help those without lawyers.

Judges should also be allowed to guide proceedings to reduce acrimony between parties and minimise any negative impact on children, the committee recommended.

A 44-year-old divorced mother of two young girls, who asked not to be named, said having a neutral party look after the interests of children whose parents are undergoing a divorce stood out for her.

"Children suffer the most during this trying time. The parents who are going through an equally difficult period emotionally may not exactly be at their best to care for them and think about their interests, so it is good to have someone who ensures they do not end up as 'collateral damage' in the divorce," she said.

Ms Renjala Balachandran, head of the Sinda Family Service Centre, said divorce support specialist agencies would be able to give feuding couples food for thought on the effects of a divorce and make them consider a reconciliation.

Measures recommended by the Committee for Family Justice

- Train front-line personnel at community touch points to identify those with family problems and refer them to the appropriate agencies.

- Establish divorce support specialist agencies to provide information and advice on non-legal issues such as housing and finances, case management by social workers and counselling.

- Pre-filing consultation for couples with children before they can file for divorce.

- Establish the Family Justice Courts, comprising the existing High Court (Family Division), Family Court and Juvenile Court.

- Differentiated management process for cases with different issues.

- Simplification and streamlining of court processes.

- Court friend scheme to help those not represented by lawyers.

- Judge-led approach to reduce acrimony.

- Appoint child representatives in appropriate cases to present the child's views.

- Accreditation scheme for family lawyers trained in non-legal aspects such as knowledge of social support services.

Related

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Recommendations to transform the Family Justice System