This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Family law proposals
05/04/2004
New legal safeguards to prevent children being used as 'pawns' when relationships break down have been unveiled today.
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson set out a new national strategy designed to support stable family life based around:
- little or no state interference in families that are strong and working well;
- more practical help and support when families hit problems;
- and a radical overhaul of legal safeguards when relationships have broken down
A new consultation document Family Matters: Improving Family Law in Scotland published today contains firm proposals to:
- Reduce the minimum period over which couples must live apart before a divorce is granted - reducing acrimony in divorce and allowing parents and children to move on;
- Give parental rights and responsibilities to unmarried fathers who register the birth of their child alongside the mother
In addition, Ministers are seeking views on how best to provide:
- Legal safeguards for cohabiting couples that address their current legal vulnerability;
- A recognised role for step-parents in parenting;
- Better arrangements for grandparents who do not play as great a part in their grandchildren's lives as they would like to
Ms Jamieson also announced an immediate cash injection of £250,000 for Scotland's existing family support organisations, and promised to look at how this this network can be strengthened further for families facing relationship difficulties.
She said:
"Family life should wherever possible be an issue for families themselves. Government and other agencies should not intrude when things are going well. Where we can help is in providing the right kind of support when families hit a rocky patch. And we have a role in providing a sensible framework of legal safeguards when, sadly, family relationships break down.
"This legal framework exists already in Scotland - but there is widespread consensus that it no longer provides the safety net of legal safeguards for the way Scotland's people now live their lives.
"Some will see any change to the law in this area as a 'defeat' for traditional values. They should not - for the reforms published today are based around a principle that is central to everything we stand for as a country and as a society - the best interests of children. That must be the pillar around which we build strong family law in Scotland.
"I want to see stability in families. Where families face difficulties I want to see those difficulties resolved at an early stage. I want families to see that they have places other than the courts to turn to when they encounter difficulties. That is why I am looking at creating a network of family contact centres across Scotland - 'safe havens' for families whose relationships have broken down to come together. There is a need for a better co-ordinated system of counselling and mediation, backed by increased Executive investment.
"But where a relationship goes beyond the point of no return, or when a parent dies or is seriously injured, I want to see legal safeguards in place to protect all parties. Quite simply, we do not have that at the moment - and that leaves children at potential risk. At a time when in so many other areas of our society we are working to improve child protection, it is simply untenable that civil family law does not play its part.
"I want to see the law protect the vulnerable. I want the law to recognise that children are better protected when the adults around them have greater rights and responsibilities for them. And I want the law to recognise that, when relationships break down, the law should help rather than hinder."
There have been a number of reports on areas of Family Law in recent years, including a consultation paper - Improving Family Law - published by the Scottish Office in 1999. This was followed by a Scottish Executive White Paper in 2000, Parents and Children. Family Matters: Improving Family Law in Scotland is available, along with these earlier publications, at www.scotland.gov.uk/familylaw
Responses to previous consultations mean that today's paper contains firm proposals on: extending Parental Rights and Responsibilities (PRRs) for Unmarried Fathers; reducing the non-cohabitation periods required for divorce from five years to two years where there is no consent, and from two years to one with consent; and updating the law on matrimonial interdicts and exclusion orders. However a settled view does not yet exist on: legal protection for cohabitants; Step-Parent Parental Responsibility and Rights Agreement; contact between children and wider family.
The Executive currently invests over £610,000 annually - through the Children, Young People and Families Unified Voluntary Sector Fund - in the four national family bodies. In addition the ten local mediation services receive over £627,000. Ministers believe that creating a more tightly focused national support network will lead to improved services for families facing difficulties - recent research has shown that current provision of such facilities is patchy. The announcement today will lead to additional funding of £250,000 for 2004-05, and the same amount for 2005-06, to the family bodies while ensuring that all providers work together to improve the consistency of national provision.
Research Findings on Family Formation and Dissolution in Scotland were published last month by the Executive. The research looks at trends in families and attitudes towards family life among the Scottish population.
The research found, among other things, that over half of those surveyed (57 per cent) in Scotland believed that unmarried couples who live together have a 'common law marriage'. Common law marriage does not exist. Nearly half (49 per cent) of the population wrongly believed that unmarried fathers have the same rights as married fathers in relation to consent to children's medical treatment. Ministers are therefore seeking views on how best to raise awareness of family law issues, including the possibility of a major national information campaign.
The consultation will run until June 28. The Partnership Agreement contains a commitment 'to reform family law for all of Scotland's people'.