In April 2014, there will be one new super Court; the Family Court, which will incorporate the High Court, the County Court and the Family Proceedings Court. Almost all cases which we currently begin in the Bury St Edmunds County Court, will instead begin life in the Family Court. A team (in the Court Service) will allocate each case to the appropriate level of Judge, and at an appropriate hearing centre, based on the issues involved.
The administration of the new Family Court, should therefore mean that for lawyers the procedure should become simplified, as there will be one set of rules for all. At present cases dealt with in the Family Proceedings Court have a very different procedure to cases conducted in the County Court. Theoretically one system should be simpler to administer, and the progress of cases through the system should be speeded up.
Part of the core reason for this change is to speed up the process, and to make it simpler for the large number of litigants in person who are now entering the family Courts since Legal Aid ceased to be to all intents and purposes in April 2013.
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