Overview

A pilot Family Court – the first problem solving Court under the Judiciary reform initiatives – was established in 2002 with jurisdiction over family matters at the High Court level and specific family matters at the Magistrate’s Court level, but restricted presently to the magisterial district of St George West. Three High Court Judges and four Magistrates have been specifically assigned to the Family Court Pilot Project.

Prior to the establishment of the Family Court, family disputes were being handled in the same court environment as criminal and regular civil matters. The need arose, therefore, for a problem solving court with respect to family matters. In 2002, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Chief Justice, established a Family Court Committee. The initial Committee was an amalgamation of different stakeholders from the Judiciary, various Government Ministries and the Justice sector. This partnership led to a successful Family Court design and implementation of a Family Court Pilot. The Committee comprised various stakeholders, such as:

• The Judiciary
• Office of the Attorney General
• Probation Services
• Family Services Division
• Civil Society

As such, the most significant partnership in the history of the Family Court emerged- the Judicial and Executive arms of government cooperating to establish the pilot. Successive evaluations have deemed the Family Court pilot to be extremely successful, and proposals have been made to the Executive to extend this facility to other areas of Trinidad and Tobago.

The pre-requisite to this expansion, however, is the passage of legislation which will vest jurisdiction for all family matters into this division of the High Court. The related Bill has been actually introduced to the Parliament.