Family Courts events

​​​​​​​​Request 815656268

Question 1

How many Family Court events have been held in the last five years.

Question 2

How many of the above events were applications from fathers asking for a residency order i.e shared care?

Question 3

How many of those applications have been granted in full?

Question 4

How many applications if not granted in full were granted partially?

Question 5

Of those that were successful, was the Commissioner from Jersey or off island?

Question 6

Of those that were successful, how many involved an off island independent social worker?

Question 7

When was the Family Court last reviewed? Please provide the review documents if in the last five years?

Question 8

Who regulates the Family Court or if not regulated, has oversight?

Clarification request

First and second parts of the question –

How many Family Court events have been held in the last five years. How many of the above events were applications from fathers asking for a residency order i.e shared care? Please clarify what is meant by ‘events’

Third and Fourth parts of the question

How many of those applications have been granted in full? How many applications if not granted in full were granted partially? Please clarify what is meant by ‘in full’ and ‘partially’

Fifth and sixth parts of the question Of those that were successful, was the Commissioner from Jersey or off island? Of those that were successful, how many involved an off island independent social worker? Please clarify what is meant by ‘successful’

Clarification response

First and second clarification: I used the word events to encompass every court case/session/trial, because I couldn't think of the collective title, I’m hoping this helps.

Third and fourth clarification: Where a father has asked for specific access to his children, how many cases were granted completely i.e. the father was granted what he asked for and how many partially i.e. some parts of the request were granted but not all.

Fifth and sixth clarification: Successful i.e. where the father was granted his full request i.e. a father requested a residential order for his children and was granted this request, so was successful.

Response

Question 1

The Judicial Greffe can confirm statistics relating to events taking half a day or longer are set out in the table below. However, for 2020 and 2021 we do not hold statistical data in relation to hearings of half a day or more in a format that can be extracted within the time limits of this request. Art 16 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

In addition, there have been applications and hearings in respect of adoption and the reciprocal enforcement of foreign child maintenance orders, statistics of which are not included.​

​Question 2

Statistical information about the number of fathers asking for a residency order is not held and Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law also 2011 applies. The Judicial Greffe do not hold this data in a format that allows retrieval without consulting each case file individually, which is not possible within the cost limitations of the Freedom of information regulations. Article 16 (1) therefore also applies.

Questions 3

Statistical data is not held about how many of those applications have been granted in full i.e. the father was granted what he asked for. The Judicial Greffe do not hold this data in a format that allows retrieval without consulting each case file individually, which is not possible within the cost limitations of the Freedom of information regulations. Article 16 (1) therefore also applies.

Question 4

Data is not held about how many applications if not granted in full were granted partially i.e. some parts of the request were granted but not all. The Judicial Greffe do not hold this data in a format that allows retrieval without consulting each case file individually, which is not possible within the cost limitations of the Freedom of information regulations. Article 16 (1) therefore also applies.

Question 5

Of those that were successful, was the Commissioner from Jersey or off island? Again, the Judicial Greffe do not hold this data in a format that allows retrieval without consulting each case file individually, which is not possible within the cost limitations of the Freedom of information regulations. Article 16 (1) therefore also applies.

Queston 6

Statistical data relating to the number of successful cases that involved an off island independent social worker is not held in a format that allows retrieval without consulting each case file individually, which is not possible within the cost limitations of the Freedom of information regulations. Article 16 (1) therefore also applies.

Question 7

In relation to when the Family Court was last reviewed and associated review documents from the last five years, KC Hannah Markham has been appointed to undertake a review of the Family Court this year.

Question 8

The Family Court is part of the Family Division of the Royal Court and is responsible for handling the private law family matters brought to the Royal Court. The States of Jersey creates the laws under which the Family Division operates and prescribes the powers under those laws that it may exercise; those laws are listed in the Royal Court Rules 2004​ Rule 3/1(2).

As part of the Royal Court the decisions of the Family Court are open to challenge by appeal to higher courts namely the Royal Court, the Court of Appeal and ultimately the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Articles applied

Article 16 A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.