The Family Court

Written by Jess Knauf, Director of Client Strategy at Mediate UK and Associate Member of Resolution. Reviewed by Belinda Atkins, Managing Director of Mediate UK. Last reviewed 6 September 2026; last updated 6 September 2026; next scheduled review March 2027.

Definition and purpose

The Family Court is a court of record, created by statute, whose function is described in section 31A(1) of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 as “exercising the jurisdiction and powers conferred on it” by that Act and by other legislation.^[2] Before 2014 the same work was spread across three tiers: family proceedings courts staffed by magistrates, county courts staffed by district and circuit judges, and the Family Division of the High Court. A litigant had to choose the right court and cases were transferred between them. The Family Justice Review of 2011 recommended that “A single family court, with a single point of entry, should replace the current three tiers of court”, and the 2013 Act gave effect to that recommendation.^[16][1]

The court is national rather than local. There is one Family Court, and the buildings in which it sits, from the Central Family Court in London to hearing centres across England and Wales, are venues of that single court rather than separate courts.^[2] Section 31E gives it wide powers: “In any proceedings in the family court, the court may make any order which could be made by the High Court or the county court” when exercising a corresponding jurisdiction.^[2] The judiciary describes the purpose of the wider family justice system as being “to help families resolve disputes arising in respect of family matters quickly and with the minimum of disruption to those involved”, with parties encouraged to settle out of court, for example through mediation, “unless this is not a safe course”.^[17]

The term “family courts”, in the plural, is often used for the Family Court together with the Family Division of the High Court, and official statistics are published under that heading.^[18][13] This article is about the statutory Family Court; the relationship with the Family Division is explained below.

Legal basis

The substantive law the court applies comes from separate statutes: the Children Act 1989 for private and public law about children, the Adoption and Children Act 2002 for placement and adoption, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 and Civil Partnership Act 2004 for divorce, dissolution and financial remedies as amended by the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, and Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996 for non-molestation and occupation orders.^{[3][4][6][5][7]}

The Family Court and the Family Division

The Family Division of the High Court predates the Family Court and continues alongside it. The judiciary explains that “the majority of cases are dealt with in the Family Court”, while “a limited number of cases are heard in the Family Division of the High Court, for example cases involving international child abduction and cases involving the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court”.^[18] The inherent jurisdiction, including wardship, is a power of the High Court alone and cannot be exercised by the Family Court, although High Court judges may sit in either court.^[22][18] Both courts “are headed by the President of the Family Division”.^[18]

The Family Division also has an appellate function: it “hears appeals from certain decisions made by Circuit Judges and Recorders in the Family Court”.^[18] Under section 31I the High Court may order the transfer of proceedings from the Family Court to itself where it considers that desirable, and the President has issued guidance on when a case should be transferred.^[2] In practice the boundary is drawn so that the Family Court hears the overwhelming majority of family business, and the Family Division is reserved for cases with an international element, medical treatment and other inherent jurisdiction cases, and appeals.^[18]

Judiciary and leadership

The President of the Family Division

The President of the Family Division heads both the Family Division and the Family Court. The office is described by the judiciary as “Head of Family Justice”; the Family Division “comprises the President and 19 High Court Judges”, and appointment is made by the King on the recommendation of a selection panel convened by the Judicial Appointments Commission.^[24] The President also chairs the Family Procedure Rule Committee and the Family Justice Council and is President of the Court of Protection.^[25]

The current President is Sir Stephen Cobb, whose appointment was announced on 23 April 2026 and who was sworn in on 14 May 2026, succeeding Sir Andrew McFarlane.^[25][8] Sir Stephen was called to the Bar in 1985, appointed a High Court judge of the Family Division in 2013, served as Family Presiding Judge for the North Eastern Circuit from 2015 to 2021, chaired the Private Law Working Group, and was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2024.^[8][25] The President issues practice guidance and regular statements known as “A View from the President’s Chambers”.

Family Presiding Judges and Designated Family Judges

Below the President, leadership of the court is organised by circuit and by court centre. Each circuit has one or more Family Presiding Judges, High Court judges of the Family Division who oversee family work on that circuit; the judiciary lists eight, covering the South Eastern Circuit (two), London, the Western, North Eastern, Northern and Midland Circuits and Wales, with Mr Justice Keehan as Lead Family Presiding Judge.^[26] The role was formerly titled Family Division Liaison Judge.^[26]

At each major court centre a circuit judge is appointed Designated Family Judge, “responsible for the administration of Family justice at each major court centre”.^[22] The judiciary lists 43 Designated Family Judge posts across England and Wales.^[27] The 43 DFJ areas are also the units used for reform programmes such as Child Focused Courts, described below.^[28]

The levels of judge

The judiciary notes that family judges and magistrates are “specially trained” by the Judicial College, including in domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour, and that judges “do not normally wear judicial robes and the proceedings are more informal than those in a Criminal Court”.^[22][18]

Composition and allocation of cases

Rule 3 of the Family Court (Composition and Distribution of Business) Rules 2014 provides that the court is composed of one judge of district judge level, circuit judge level or High Court judge level, or of “two or three lay justices”, who should include both a man and a woman “so far as is practicable”.^[23] Rule 15 provides that an application in a type of proceedings listed in Schedule 1 “shall be allocated to be heard by a judge of the level listed in the second column”, and Schedule 2 restricts the remedies that lay justices, district judges and circuit judges may grant.^[29]

The allocation decision is made by a judge of district judge or circuit judge level, in practice a gatekeeping judge or legal adviser at the point of issue.^[23][30] Where proceedings are not listed in the schedule, rule 20 requires the allocating judge to consider “the need to make the most effective and efficient use of the local judicial resource”, “the need to avoid delay”, “the need for judicial continuity”, “the location of the parties or of any child relevant to the proceedings” and complexity.^[29] Emergency applications, including emergency protection orders and without-notice domestic abuse applications, go under rule 16 to “the first available judge of the family court” who is authorised to hear them.^[29] In private law children cases Practice Direction 12B requires the gatekeeping decision within one working day of issue; see Form C100.^[30]

Business of the court

Children cases

In every case about a child’s upbringing the court applies section 1 of the Children Act 1989: “the child’s welfare shall be the court’s paramount consideration”.^[32] Private law cases usually begin with a C100 and follow the Child Arrangements Programme in Practice Direction 12B, with a First Hearing Dispute Resolution Appointment, Cafcass safeguarding enquiries and, where needed, a section 7 report and fact-finding hearing.^[30] Public law cases are subject to the statutory requirement in section 32(1)(a)(ii) that the application be disposed of “without delay, and in any event within twenty-six weeks”, extendable only where “necessary to enable the court to resolve the proceedings justly”.^[31] Most orders in both types of case can be made at any level of judge, subject to the allocation rules.^[29]

Divorce and money

Since April 2022 divorce and dissolution have proceeded on a statement of irretrievable breakdown without the need to establish facts, under the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, with a minimum of 20 weeks between application and conditional order and six weeks between conditional and final order.^[5] Most applications are made online and processed centrally by HMCTS.^[33] Financial remedy applications are heard within the Family Court by judges sitting in the Financial Remedies Court, a specialist arrangement within the court rather than a separate court; the court applies section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, giving “first consideration” to the welfare of any child of the family under eighteen.^[6] See financial remedies.

Domestic abuse

Applications for non-molestation and occupation orders under Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996 are made to the Family Court on Form FL401, carry no court fee, and may be made without notice in urgent cases.^[7][34] Where domestic abuse is raised in a children case, Practice Direction 12J governs how the court deals with it.^[35]

Cafcass, HMCTS and the wider system

The Family Court is served by two principal public bodies. Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, was established under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 and states that it “independently advise[s] the family courts about what is safe for children and in their best interests”.^[11] Its family court advisers carry out safeguarding checks, write section 7 reports and act as children’s guardians in public law cases. In Wales the equivalent functions are performed by Cafcass Cymru, part of the Welsh Government.^[12]

HM Courts and Tribunals Service, an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, is “responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family courts in England and Wales”, employing around 18,500 staff and operating from more than 350 venues.^[10][33] It issues applications, lists hearings, collects fees, administers Help with Fees and runs the online services through which most divorce applications and many children applications are now made.^[33][36] The Lord Chancellor’s statutory duty to support the business of the family court under section 1 of the Courts Act 2003 is discharged through HMCTS.^[21]

Oversight of the system as a whole sits with the Family Justice Board, chaired jointly by ministers from the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education, whose members include the chief executives of Cafcass and HMCTS, with the President of the Family Division attending as an observer; Local Family Justice Boards perform the same function in each area.^[37] The Family Justice Council, a sub-group of the Board chaired by the President, advises on interdisciplinary matters, and the Family Procedure Rule Committee makes the procedural rules.^[37][25]

Procedure

Procedure in the Family Court is governed by the Family Procedure Rules 2010, described in rule 1.1 as “a new procedural code with the overriding objective of enabling the court to deal with cases justly, having regard to any welfare issues involved”.^[19] Dealing with a case justly includes dealing with it expeditiously and fairly, proportionately, on an equal footing, saving expense and allotting an appropriate share of the court’s resources.^[19] The Rules are supplemented by practice directions and by pilot practice directions in Part 36.^[35]

Three features distinguish family procedure. First, most applications about children and finances may be made only after the applicant has attended a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting or claimed an exemption, under section 10 of the Children and Families Act 2014 and Part 3 of the Rules, and the court must consider non-court dispute resolution at every stage; see non-court dispute resolution and FPR Part 3.^[38][39] Second, hearings are held in private under rule 27.10, with attendance limited by rule 27.11 to the parties, their representatives, witnesses, “duly accredited representatives of news gathering and reporting organisations” and authorised lawyers attending for journalistic, research or public legal educational purposes.^[14] Third, a large proportion of parties have no lawyer: in January to March 2026 neither party was represented in 49 per cent of private law disposals.^[13] See litigant in person.

Privacy and transparency

Publication of information about children proceedings held in private is restricted by section 12 of the Administration of Justice Act 1960, which makes it a contempt of court to publish information relating to proceedings that are brought under the Children Act 1989 or the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or “otherwise relate wholly or mainly to the maintenance or upbringing of a minor”, and by section 97(2) of the Children Act 1989, which prohibits publishing material “intended, or likely, to identify any child as being involved in any proceedings”.^[40][41]

In October 2021 the then President, Sir Andrew McFarlane, concluded in his transparency review that accredited media representatives and legal bloggers should be able to report publicly on what they see and hear in family courts, subject to strict anonymity.^[42] A reporting pilot began in Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle in January 2023, was extended to 19 areas in January 2024, and on 27 January 2025 the open reporting provisions were extended to every family court in England and Wales, in what the President called “a watershed moment for family justice”.^[43][15] Under Practice Direction 12R the court makes a transparency order setting out what may be reported; the names of children, family members, schools and similar identifying details may not be published, usually until the youngest child is 18.^[44] The subject is covered in full on transparency in the Family Court.

Appeals

Section 31K of the 1984 Act gives a right of appeal to the Court of Appeal, subject to orders under section 56 of the Access to Justice Act 1999 which redirect most appeals.^[20] In practice, appeals from lay justices and district judges are heard within the Family Court by a judge of circuit judge level; appeals from circuit judges and recorders go to a High Court judge, except in public law children and adoption cases and second appeals, which go to the Court of Appeal; and appeals from High Court judges go to the Court of Appeal.^[23][18][45] Permission is almost always required and the appellant’s notice must ordinarily be filed within 21 days.^[46] The appeal court reviews the decision and allows the appeal where the decision was “wrong” or “unjust because of a serious procedural or other irregularity”; the Supreme Court in Re B [2013] UKSC 33 confirmed that the test is whether the decision was wrong, not “plainly wrong”.^[46][47] See appeals in family cases.

Fees and funding

Court fees are set by the Family Proceedings Fees Order 2008 and listed in HMCTS leaflet EX50. As at 13 July 2026 the main fees are £628 for a divorce, dissolution or nullity application, £270 for an application under the Children Act 1989, £321 for a contested financial order, £62 for a financial order by consent, and no fee for a non-molestation or occupation order.^[34] People on low incomes or certain benefits may apply for Help with Fees, which can remit a fee in full or in part.^[36] Legal aid remains available for family mediation on a means test, and for representation in public law cases and, subject to evidence of domestic abuse or child protection concerns and a means test, in private law cases.^[48] Full tables are on family court fees.

Statistics

The Ministry of Justice publishes Family Court Statistics Quarterly as accredited official statistics. The latest edition, for January to March 2026, was published on 25 June 2026.^[13]

Two figures dominate discussion of the court’s performance. The first is delay: the 26-week statutory limit for care cases was met in 36 per cent of cases disposed in the quarter, and private law cases averaged 35 weeks.^[13][31] The second is representation: after the removal of most private family law from legal aid in April 2013, the proportion of private law cases in which neither party has a lawyer has risen to around half.^[13] HMCTS reported that the family jurisdictions, including divorce and probate, received over 560,000 cases in 2024-25.^[33]

Reform

The principal current reform of private law children work is the Child Focused Courts model, formerly the Pathfinder pilot, which replaces the standard Child Arrangements Programme with an investigative approach in which Cafcass prepares a child impact report before the first hearing and the court, rather than the parties, leads the gathering of information.^[28] The pilot began on 21 February 2022 in six courts in Dorset and North Wales under Practice Direction 36Z, and on 17 March 2026 the Ministry of Justice announced national expansion, stating that cases in pilot areas had been resolved up to 7.5 months faster, that the model was operating in 10 of 43 court areas, and that £17 million had been allocated for the next financial year, with nine further regions first.^[49][28]

Other strands include the Family Justice Board’s performance work and its Young People’s Board, the transparency reforms described above, the April 2024 amendments to Part 3 of the Family Procedure Rules strengthening the court’s powers to require engagement with non-court dispute resolution, and the digitisation of family services under the HMCTS reform programme, which ran from 2016 to March 2025.^[37][39][33] The Family Justice Review’s recommendation of a single Family Justice Service was implemented in modified form through the Family Justice Board rather than a new agency.^[16][37]

History

Before 2014, the three-tier structure meant that the same type of application could be heard in a magistrates’ court, a county court or the High Court depending on where it was issued and whether it was transferred. The Family Justice Review found in 2011 that “In public law the backlog of cases means today around 20,000 children are waiting for their futures to be decided” and that care cases took on average over a year.^[52] The single court, the statutory 26-week limit and the Public Law Outline were the response; care proceedings averaged 37 weeks in January to March 2026.^[31][13]

Criticism and debate

Delay is the longest-running criticism. Section 32 of the Children Act 1989 requires care cases to be completed within 26 weeks, but only 36 per cent of care cases disposed in January to March 2026 met that limit, and private law cases averaged 35 weeks, figures the Ministry of Justice itself presents as improvements on the previous year.^[31][13] The government’s March 2026 announcement on Child Focused Courts acknowledged that “Court backlogs represent victims waiting, families in limbo and children left in harm’s way”.^[28]

The rise in unrepresented parties since 2013 has been criticised as shifting work onto judges, Cafcass and court staff and as creating an imbalance where one party is represented and the other is not; the court’s response has included plainer forms, guidance leaflets and support for litigants in person.^[13] Transparency has been contested from both directions: campaigners argued for decades that private hearings allowed poor practice to go unexamined, while others warn that reporting risks identifying children, a concern the transparency order regime is designed to address.^[42][44] A further debate concerns the treatment of domestic abuse in private law cases, which led to Practice Direction 12J and to the investigative model now being rolled out nationally.^[35][28]

See also

• HM Courts and Tribunals Service – administration of the court
• Cafcass
• Form C100 – the private law children application
• Financial remedy proceedings
• Form FL401 – non-molestation and occupation orders
• Transparency in the Family Court
• Appeals in family cases
• Family court fees
• Litigant in person
• Non-court dispute resolution and FPR Part 3
• Children Act 1989 – the principal children statute
• Financial remedies
• Divorce
• Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting – the pre-application requirement

References

1. Crime and Courts Act 2013, section 17: Civil and family proceedings in England and Wales. legislation.gov.uk. Subsection (3) in force 22 April 2014. Accessed 5 September 2026.
2. Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, Part 4A: The family court (sections 31A to 31P). legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
3. Children Act 1989, section 8: Child arrangements orders and other orders with respect to children. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
4. Adoption and Children Act 2002. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
5. Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
6. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25: Matters to which court is to have regard. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
7. Family Law Act 1996, Part IV: Family homes and domestic violence. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
8. Lord Justice Cobb sworn in as President of the Family Division. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. 14 May 2026. Accessed 5 September 2026.
9. The Family Court (Composition and Distribution of Business) Rules 2014, SI 2014/840. legislation.gov.uk. In force 22 April 2014. Accessed 5 September 2026.
10. About us: HM Courts and Tribunals Service. GOV.UK. Accessed 5 September 2026.
11. About us. Cafcass. Accessed 5 September 2026.
12. Cafcass Cymru. Welsh Government. Accessed 5 September 2026.
13. Family Court Statistics Quarterly, January to March 2026. Ministry of Justice. 25 June 2026. Accessed 5 September 2026.
14. Family Procedure Rules 2010, Part 27: Hearings and directions appointments (rules 27.10 and 27.11). Ministry of Justice. Accessed 5 September 2026.
15. Open reporting provisions extended to all family courts in watershed moment for family justice. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. 27 January 2025. Accessed 5 September 2026.
16. Family Justice Review: final report. Ministry of Justice, Department for Education and Welsh Government. 3 November 2011. Accessed 5 September 2026.
17. The family justice system. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Accessed 5 September 2026.
18. Family Division and Family Court. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Accessed 5 September 2026.
19. Family Procedure Rules 2010, rule 1.1: The overriding objective. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
20. Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, section 31K: Appeals. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
21. Courts Act 2003, section 1: The general duty. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
22. Family judges. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Accessed 5 September 2026.
23. The Family Court (Composition and Distribution of Business) Rules 2014, Part 2: Composition. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
24. President of the Family Division. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Accessed 5 September 2026.
25. Lord Justice Cobb appointed President of the Family Division. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. 23 April 2026. Accessed 5 September 2026.
26. Family Presiding Judges. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Accessed 5 September 2026.
27. Designated Family Judges. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Accessed 5 September 2026.
28. Children to get swifter justice as new family court approach expands nationally. Ministry of Justice. 17 March 2026. Accessed 5 September 2026.
29. The Family Court (Composition and Distribution of Business) Rules 2014, Part 5: Distribution of business. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
30. Practice Direction 12B: Child Arrangements Programme. Ministry of Justice. Accessed 5 September 2026.
31. Children Act 1989, section 32: Period within which application for order under this Part must be disposed of. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
32. Children Act 1989, section 1: Welfare of the child. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
33. HM Courts and Tribunals Service Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25. HM Courts and Tribunals Service. July 2026. Accessed 5 September 2026.
34. Family court fees (EX50). HM Courts and Tribunals Service. updated 13 July 2026. Accessed 5 September 2026.
35. Family Procedure Rules 2010, Part 12: Children proceedings. Ministry of Justice. Accessed 5 September 2026.
36. Get help paying court and tribunal fees. GOV.UK. Accessed 5 September 2026.
37. Family Justice Board. GOV.UK. Accessed 5 September 2026.
38. Children and Families Act 2014, section 10: Family mediation information and assessment meetings. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
39. Family Procedure Rules 2010, Part 3: Non-court dispute resolution. Ministry of Justice. Accessed 5 September 2026.
40. Administration of Justice Act 1960, section 12: Publication of information relating to proceedings in private. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
41. Children Act 1989, section 97: Privacy for children involved in certain proceedings. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
42. Confidence and Confidentiality: Transparency in the Family Courts. Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division. 28 October 2021. Accessed 5 September 2026.
43. Open Reporting Provisions. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. updated 21 February 2025. Accessed 5 September 2026.
44. Practice Direction 12R: The court giving permission to communicate information from proceedings to which Part 12 FPR applies. Ministry of Justice. In force 27 January 2025. Accessed 5 September 2026.
45. The Access to Justice Act 1999 (Destination of Appeals) (Family Proceedings) (Amendment) Order 2016, SI 2016/891. legislation.gov.uk. In force 3 October 2016. Accessed 5 September 2026.
46. Family Procedure Rules 2010, Part 30: Appeals. Ministry of Justice. Accessed 5 September 2026.
47. In the matter of B (a Child) [2013] UKSC 33. Find Case Law, The National Archives. 12 June 2013. Accessed 5 September 2026.
48. Legal aid: what you can get legal aid for. GOV.UK. Accessed 5 September 2026.
49. Practice Direction 36Z: Pilot scheme: private law reform: investigative approach. Ministry of Justice. Accessed 5 September 2026.
50. HM Courts and Tribunals Service Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13, HC 239. HM Courts and Tribunals Service. 2013. Accessed 5 September 2026.
51. The Family Procedure Rules 2010, SI 2010/2955: introductory text. legislation.gov.uk. Made 13 December 2010; in force 6 April 2011. Accessed 5 September 2026.
52. Family Justice Review: final report (publication page). GOV.UK. 3 November 2011. Accessed 5 September 2026.
53. Crime and Courts Act 2013: introductory text. legislation.gov.uk. Royal Assent 25 April 2013. Accessed 5 September 2026.
54. Children and Families Act 2014, section 12: Child arrangements orders. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.

External links

• Family Division and Family Court (judiciary.uk)
• Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, Part 4A – the statutory constitution of the court
• Family Court (Composition and Distribution of Business) Rules 2014
• Family Procedure Rules 2010 practice directions
• Family Court Statistics Quarterly
• Family Justice Board
• Find a court or tribunal

This article is part of Family Court Wiki, published by Family Legal Ltd. It is general information about the law of England and Wales, not legal advice. Last reviewed 6 September 2026. About this site and editorial policy · Report an error.