Family Court delays
Children suffer due to court shortfalls
Justin Dowd, Law Society
CHILDREN whose parents are separating are facing up to three years of uncertainty because of long delays in the Family Court, especially in Sydney, lawyers have warned.
The president of the Law Society, Justin Dowd, said 26 judges of the court had retired in the past six years, but only 13 of them had been replaced. A lack of federal funding meant cases now took two to three years to be resolved, he said.
Often the delays affected who a child would live with, as well as practical issues such as where they should go to school, Mr Dowd, a family lawyer, said.
A delay in deciding custody arrangements could also have long-term consequences for a child’s relationship with the non-resident parent, he said.
