Family Court to get more power

Family Court to get more power
By Ng Jing Yng | Posted: 18 February 2011 1550 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Family Court will be given more power to deal with societal changes brought about by an increasing mobile society and rising divorce rates here.

At the 20th Subordinate Courts Workplan for the coming year, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong said on Friday that counselling and mediation will now be gradually made compulsory for divorcing couples with children under 21 years old, starting with families with younger children.

If either parent refuses to attend the sessions, the court may impose legal costs on the non-compliant party or not proceed with the divorce application, until they attend the counselling sessions.

Implementing this comes in line with the amendment to the Women's Charter.

Statistics also showed that close to 90 per cent of divorcing couples in 2009, who had children below 21 years old, had disagreed with the court's decision concerning the custody of their children.

Other changes to the Family Court include hearing child abduction cases, handling financial matters for foreign divorces and establishing weekly night sessions to hear maintenance matters.

On the consumer front, more non-injury motor accidents claims will be heard at the financial dispute resolution centre instead of in the courts.

Cases involving amounts up to S$3,000 can be heard there, instead of the current limit of S$1,000, freeing up the courts to handle other cases.

CJ Chan said that "public interest demands that criminal cases are better handled and managed".

The challenges are to provide a high standard of justice and to cope with the demand of court services efficiently, he said.

A drugs court dealing with all drug cases will also be set up, said CJ Chan, who cited the successes of specialist courts like the Traffic Court.

Other highlights of the Workplan include the aim for case filing to go paperless, and the enhancement of the professional development of judicial officers to maintain a high standard of judges here.

-CNA/wk

- wong chee tat :)