Catalogue description Records of the Family Court

The single Family Court was created by the Crime and Courts Act 2013. It came into existence on 22 April 2014 and replaced the previous system of family jurisdiction being divided between magistrates' courts, county courts and the High Court.

The Family Court handles:

• parental disputes over the upbringing of children;
• local authority intervention to protect children;
• decrees relating to divorce or the dissolution of a civil partnership;
• financial support for children after divorce or relationship breakdown;
• some aspects of domestic violence;
• adoption, special guardianship, and surrogacy;
• forced marriage protection;
• female genital mutilation protection.

The Family Court judiciary is made up of lay magistrates, District Judge (Magistrates Court), District Judges, Circuit Judges and High Court Judges. The court is based on 43 local centres (each presided over by a ‘Designated Family Judge’) and at the Royal Courts of Justice. Magistrates undergo specialist training before they sit in the Family Court, where procedures are very different from the criminal courts.

The Family Court is distinct from the Family Division of the High Court. Judges in the Family Division can hear appeals from the Family Court.