Are there different types of Family Courts in Northern Ireland? Yes. The Family Proceedings Court is the Court which primarily deals with any legal applications that are made regarding your children. More complex cases can be transferred to and dealt with by the higher tiers of Court, known as the Family Care Centre and the High Court. Who deals with cases in the Family Courts? There is no jury in the Family Court. In the Family Proceedings Court, a District Judge will either sit alone or with lay panel members. In the Family Care Centre and High Court, the Judge will adjudicate alone. Are Family Courts confidential? Yes, due to the sensitive nature of these cases, Court reviews and hearings are not public and the only persons able to attend at Court are the parties involved, legal representatives and any Court appointed Social Worker or expert. What kind of Orders can the Family Courts make? A range of Court applications can be made by parents, grandparents or other family members regarding children. These can be made to resolve issues such as the following:- What is a Contact Order? A Contact Order is an Order stating that a person can have contact with a child. Either parent may apply for a Contact Order and if granted, an Order will state what contact will take place usually specifying the days, times, place of contact. Grandparents are also permitted to apply for Contact Orders if they are given leave to do so by the Court. Contact Orders can deal with direct or indirect contact and can stipulate whether any contact should be supervised or not. Special contact arrangements around holiday periods such as school breaks or Christmas/Easter can also be set out in a Contact Order. What is a Residence Order? A Residence Order is an Order that the Court can make stating which parent a child shall reside with. When deciding upon whether to grant a Residence Order, the Court will primarily look at what is in the child’s best interests. As children get older, the Court will take their wishes and feelings on where they want to live more into consideration than those of a younger child. What is a Prohibited Steps Order? A Prohibited Steps Order is an Order which, when made, will prevent a parent from taking certain steps with a child, such as for example taking the child out of the jurisdiction or removing the child from a school. The Court will consider granting a Prohibited Steps Order on an emergency basis if a parent has made threats to or has already attempted to do something not agreed upon by the other parent – for example, if one parent has threatened to take a child overseas permanently without the consent of the other parent. What is a Specific Issue Order? If both parents cannot agree an issue about their child’s upbringing, the Court can be asked to decide the issue and can do so by making a Specific Issue Order. A Specific Issue Order can detail, for example, which school a child can go to or a change in a child’s surname. It can also deal with the issue of a child being able to relocate to another jurisdiction. Again, when adjudicating upon applications for such Orders, the Court has to look at what is in the best interests of the child primarily. How quickly can I access the Family Courts? A parent may be able to apply on an emergency basis for an Order in circumstances where a child needs an emergency Order- for example, where one parent has removed the child from the other’s care or has threatened to take the child out of the country. Such applications have to be made within 7 days of an event or incident which would trigger the need for the Order to be granted in an emergency. The Court can grant an Order on an ‘ex parte’ basis (i.e. without notice being given to the other party). An ex parte Order is only a temporary holding position until the matter has been fully adjudicated on by the Court. Emergency applications however cannot be made for Contact Orders. Non-emergency cases can take approximately 6 weeks from lodging papers at Court to the first Court date. Should you require any further information, advice or assistance in respect of any matter currently before the Family Courts or if you wish to bring an application to the Court, contact us on 028 9024 3901 or email Karen Connolly on kconnolly@fhanna.co.uk The Family Courts in Northern Ireland oversee and adjudicate upon cases which are brought by parents after relationship breakdown regarding care arrangements for their children. Here are some frequently asked questions about our Family Courts and how they work.