Miscellaneous

Fallout Down Under

By Anne Skove, Esq.

What happens when a family court process is delayed?

Children grow older. Parents go bankrupt. Valuations grow stale.

Divorcing parents in Australia's family court can wait as long as 2 1/2 years for finality. Mediation, introduced as a helpful measure, is also time-consuming. It reportedly takes up to 12 weeks to get in the mediator's door for the first time.

The need is growing. Foreclosures are big news in Australia, too, exacerbating family stress.

Whether or not you agree with the author's premise that divorce is so awful that "we should try to make it easy and quick," see the informative Legal Backlog Plays Havoc on Families, Les Stubbs, Sydney Morning Herald (March 22, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on March 21, 2008 (boomark / email).