Family Courts facing crisis?

In our last blog we asked if the new Single Family Court will cope with the surge in the number of parents representing themselves at court.

Since then the judiciary – in written evidence to the government about changes to public funding – warned that the rise in litigants in person is taking its toll on the court system. In its report to government the judiciary stated: 'in private law family cases legal representatives are now described by judges as “a rarity”'.

The report added: 'In the family courts the judicial perception is that private law appointments where both sides are unrepresented typically take in the region of 50% longer'.

I wonder if the judges had access to the following court data secured via the freedom of information act? It shows that since changes to public funding – when the bulk of legal aid was removed from family lawyers – parents...

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