James Carroll, Co-chair of the Law Society's Family Law Committee: Government's Response to Family Justice Review

The Government has just published its response to the Family Justice Review. As expected it accepted most of the Review's recommendations and set forth a preliminary timetable for their implementation. Its commitment to reducing delays within the family justice system is both welcome and timely but it will be severely tested by the financial realities under which it operates.

Therein perhaps lay the Government's greatest difficulty and apparent paradox: the reforms envisaged are the widest ranging since the advent of the Children Act 1989 but its finances have rarely been so stretched. This requires a delicate balancing act and it is by no means certain that they will achieve it.

One of the preferred methods the Government is using in order to reduce delays in the courts is by diverting private family disputes towards alternative dispute resolution: compulsory MIAMs the creation of an online ‘hub' providing information on ADR financial investment in mediation services and the development of Parenting Agreements are all intended to provide parents with the...

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