Family law is an area of law that requires particular care and attention. It provides a mechanism for family members to organise their affairs and come to agreement in issues like maintenance, access, custody an guardianship. In addition, it offers various reliefs to the victims of domestic violence who are provided with several means of achieving justice and safety.
Whatever your issue involves, we encourage you to Take Control of whatever in your life needs regularising. The law is there to help you do that, and we hope that this website will provide some initial information that will help you decide how to move forward.
We have a dedicated family law service in the areas set out below. Feel free to review them and then complete the form at the bottom of the page to get in touch and allow us to help you.
- Maintenance
- Access, custody and guardianship issues
- Passport issues
- Domestic violence
- What happens on the hearing date?
- Can you bring someone with you?
- How much will it cost?
- What Orders are you eligible to apply for?
Each one of these issues will require a specific application form to be filed with the District Court office. Once this form has been filed, you will be given a hearing date together with details of the Court where the matter will be heard.
Maintenance
For matters concerning maintenance, you are required to complete a Statement of Means with the District Court office. This is a document that sets out your weekly income and expenses together with details of your assets and liabilities. It is intended to assist the Court in deciding how much your living costs are so that they can reach a decision on the amount of maintenance that you should pay/receive. You can access a blank Statement of Means here.
On the hearing date, you will need to give your Statement of Means to the solicitor acting for your ex-partner, and they will have to provide one which is given to your solicitor. You can then discuss it with your solicitor to see if there are any items that you do not agree with and these can then be reviewed by the judge during the hearing.
Access, custody and guardianship.
For any application involving the care of children, you will also need to make an application in the District Court office where you will have to complete a Statement of Arrangements. This is a document which sets out details of the current care of the children so that the judge can have this to hand to help them make their decision.
What is custody?
Custody means having responsibility for the day-to-day of children. There are two categories of custody:-
Sole custody means the situation where one parent or person appointed by the Court is responsible for the child’s day-to-day care.
Joint custody means the situation where both parents or two people appointed by the Court are responsible for the child’s day-to-day care. If joint custody is not to be shared equally, agreements can be made about who will be the primary carer of the child. The primary carer is the person who has the most parenting time with the child.
Guardianship
Guardianship is the legal responsibility of a person to perform duties regarding a child’s upbringing and welfare. This also includes the right to make decisions about major areas of the child’s life. Guardians have rights the may include decisions on medical treatment, passports and taking the child out of the country, religious upbringing and culture.
Passport issues
Situations can arise where you will need to go to Court and ask the judge to decide on specific issues surrounding a child’s passport. There are three main situations where you will need the Court’s intervention:-
- One guardian refuses to sign the application form. Both guardians need to sign the application form. If one guardian will not sign the form, you can bring an application to Court to dispense with the signature of the guardian who will not sign. This enables you to get a passport for the child.
- One guardian cannot be found. If you can’t locate the guardian who needs to sign the form, you can also bring an application to Court so that the passport can be obtained.
- Location of the passport. The Court can be asked to give a ruling on where the child’s passport can be kept which may involve it being held by the Court office. In those cases, the guardian who wants the passport will need to get the Court’s permission to use the passport and the Court will decide on permission depending on what is in the best interests of the child.
Domestic violence
The Court offers a range of assistance to help people who are victims of domestic violence. The two main items are a Protection Order and Safety Order.
These two applications go together as the Protection Order is put in place until the full hearing of a Safety Order takes place. As it can take some time to get a hearing for the Safety Order, the Protection Order is put in place as a temporary measure.
What is a Protection Order?
A Protection Order is a Court direction to the Respondent, obliging them to stop committing further violence or threats of violence. You can get a Protection Order if the judge feels that there is an immediate risk of significant harm to you or your children.
If the respondent is living with you, they will not have to leave the home. If they are not living with you, they cannot come near you or watch your home. They might also be directed not to communicate with you or your children and this can include both verbal and electronic communication.
A Safety Order
A Protection Order is a temporary order which remains in place until the Court holds the full hearing for a Safety Order. A Safety Order is essentially the confirmation of the Protection Order and can be imposed for a period of up to 5 years.
On the full hearing date, the Court will hear what you have to say about the situation, and whether or not the Protection Order should be made into a full Safety Order. If the judge decides not to grant a Safety Order, the Protection Order will no longer be of effect.
If the Court hearing date has to be adjourned for any reason, then the Protection Order will remain in place until the new date.
You must attend for the hearing of the Safety Order application and if you don’t come to the Court, the judge can decide that the matter should be “struck out”. This means that your application will not go ahead and the Protection Order will no longer be in place.
A Barring Order
This is an Order which directs the Respondent to leave, or stay away from the family home. They can also be directed to stop following you and your children, and to stop communication with you.
Who can apply for a Barring Order?
A Barring Order application can only be made by current spouses or civil partners, or certain other parties, depending on the circumstances.
What happens if I am in an emergency situation?
While you are waiting for the full hearing of a Barring Order application, you can get an Interim Barring Order. This is a temporary Order which only remains in place until the full hearing.
How long does a Barring Order last?
A Barring Order can last up to 3 years. If the judge decides not to make a Barring Order at the hearing, the Interim Barring Order will no longer be in place.
What happens if the Respondent breaches the Barring Order?
The respondent breaches the Order if they do something which the Order forbids them to do. It is possible to breach a Protection Order, Safety Order, Barring Order, Interim Barring Order or Emergency Barring Order. Any of these Orders can be breached during the period when they are in place.
You should take action immediately if the Order in question has been breached. You should do the following:-
- Call the Gardai straightaway.
- Show the Gardai a copy of the Order in question, so that they know what the Order directed the Respondent to do/not to do.
- Follow the Gardai’s instructions on what to do next.
It is very important that you act immediately if an Order has been breached so as to ensure your own safety and the safety of your children.
What happens on the hearing date?
Your application form will show the date of the hearing, the location of the Court house, the number of the Court and the time of the hearing. It will usually be 10.30am or 11.45am. You should go to the Court for this time. At the time, there will be an announcement in the Court which will sound something like this:-
“This is the 10.30 callover for Court 20. If you have a page or slip showing your case is in Court 20, please come to Court 20 now. Court 20 is on the second floor”.
At this point you will go to Court 20 for the callover. The judge will be sitting at the top of the room and their registrar (or assistant) will be sitting in front of them. This gives the judge an opportunity to see which applicant/ respondent have shown up for their hearing. The Registrar will read through the list of cases. They will not read the full names but instead will just call out the record number of the case and use initials, so for example, they will call out “Record number 111/2018, A.B. and C.D”. This is to protect the identity of the parties.
When the Registrar calls out your case and you have a solicitor, they will tell the judge that you are there and they are representing you. The other party will also identify themselves to the Court at this point. The judge will then ask if the matter is going ahead or whether it is to be struck out.
Once the Registrar gets to the end of the list, everyone will leave the Court apart from the parties who are involved in the first case on the list. The judge will then hear from both sides before making a decision.
You may be able to get free legal aid to cover your Court action. You will need to make a formal application to the Legal Aid Board, and you will need to provide some financial information to show that you are not in a position to pay for the hearing. Once you have been told that you have qualified for legal aid, you will be given a list of the solicitors who you can engage to represent you in Court.
If you have not qualified for legal aid, you should contact a solicitor and get a quote from them to deal with the matter privately.