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Can I use the Family Court to issue a freestanding TOLATA claim?
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The Civil Courts Structure Review Report by Lord Justice Briggs
published at the end of July 2016 intends to provide clarity about the running of TOLATA claims to those who use the Family Court.
When the Family Court was introduced in April 2014 no specific provision was made for freestanding TOLATA claims to be brought there. The Family Division of the High Court already has jurisdiction to deal with both family and civil matters. However the intention of recent reforms has been to reserve the work of the Family Division for complex international cases and matters pertaining to its inherent jurisdiction. It is not clear therefore that freestanding TOLATA claims can be commenced in the Family Court.
The situation is problematic when using those court buildings which accommodate the Family Court but not the county court a situation which occurs at the busy Central Family Court in London. This can lead to the necessity of issuing the application in the Family Division with a view to transferring the proceedings to the Central Family Court. This issue becomes complicated if a Sch 1 application...
Read the full article here.
