The Family Justice Courts have been constituted to help parties resolve family disputes, as far as possible, in a less acrimonious way through the use of counselling and mediation provided by in-house specialists. All cases coming before the Court will be managed pro-actively by judges from the start and where necessary, the Court can direct that parties undergo counselling and mediation at the Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) Division of the Family Justice Courts, or mediation with private mediation service providers, to try and reach amicable resolution of their disputes instead of proceeding with adjudication. The FDR Division provides a Child Focused Resolution Centre (CFRC) programme and Family Resolution Chambers (FRC) programme.
FOR CHILD RELATED CASES
In particular, for divorce proceedings with at least one child below 21 years of age, parties will have to undergo the CFRC programme of counselling and mediation provided by the FDR Division of the Family Justice Courts. Apart from divorce cases, the Court may direct parties to attend counselling and/or mediation sessions in all other cases involving children, e.g. guardianship and child custody, child protection, children beyond parental control, and other cases handled by the Youth Courts.
FOR OTHER CASES
For all other cases not involving children, the Court can direct the parties to attend the FRC programme of mediation and/or counselling provided by the FDR Division of the Family Justice Courts.
The sessions will help parties work out parenting issues and custody disputes, find closure and a way forward.