System of Family Courts
The present system of family courts was introduced following the implementation of the Children Act 1989. Under this system, the following courts deal with family matters:
a. The family proceedings court. This is the name given to the magistrates’ court when members of the family panel sit to hear this type of case.
b. The county court. There are a number of ‘different’ county courts as far as family proceedings are concerned. Some have no family jurisdiction at all.
Those that do always have jurisdiction to deal with divorce, but fall into one of three categories:
i. County courts that only have a divorce jurisdiction.
ii. Family hearing centres. These county courts can, in addition to divorce cases, hear contested private law cases and adoption applications.
iii. Care centres. These county courts can hear all family matters including public law cases. The Principal Registry of the Family Division is the care centre for London.
c. The High Court of Justice. Normally the Family Division.
Work can move between the tiers as it is important that the case is dealt with at an appropriate level.
Read more about this topic: Family Proceedings Court
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