Family law disputes fall in 2011
18 Jan 2012
The number of disputes taken to
family law solicitors in the UK have
fallen.
According to new figures from the Ministry of Justice, there was a
drop in the number of people granted decrees absolute for the
dissolution of marriage in the third quarter of 2011 to
30,400.
This is a decrease if one per cent compared to the same period in
the previous year.
Similarly the number of
domestic violence orders dropped by 14 per
cent year on year to the penultimate quarter of 2011 to a total of
5,500, while domestic violence applications decreased by 15 per
cent in the same period.
The figures showed that the number of
children involved in private law applications
made in the third quarter of 2011 was 30,200, a drop of five per
cent on 2010.
This area has seen a general downward trend since the latter half
of 2009.
However, there were some 7,700 children involved in public law
applications in the same period, which was an increase of around 28
per cent on the third quarter in 2010.
According to Neil Robinson, vice-chairman of the Family Mediator's
Association, more people are turning to mediators as a first port
of call before contacting family law solicitors, perhaps in a bid
to limit legal fees in the current climate, the Independent
reported.
"There are more people training to be mediators than there have
ever been," he explained.
"We've had 800 years of an adversarial legal system and it will
take a couple of generations for it to set in – but it's getting
there."
