Karen Kiernan A TRIP TO a family law court is rarely a happy occasion and very few people have a wholly positive experience. Many people’s experience goes something like this:
It is a massively under-resourced system attempting to put a semblance of order on the chaos of family breakdown, conflicts and violence. Circuit Courts have a slightly more rarefied air dealing with divorces and separations; however, there are constant complaints about the lack of space, privacy and the expensive days sitting around waiting to get into court.Only Dublin has specialist family law court buildings and courtrooms, and these are in desperate need of an upgrade.
These assessors may be extremely expert but are not regulated, must be paid privately by parents and their reports are owned by the court. Frankly, there are so many problems it is hard to imagine how things can improve and many of us try to put small patches on a very broken system but do we need to just start again?