Make family law system user-friendly: province
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/10/2017 (2922 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Pallister government plans to introduce reforms to Manitoba’s family law system to make it more accessible and less adversarial.
Justice Minister Heather Stefanson said legislation could be introduced as early as next spring. On Wednesday, she announced the formation of an advisory committee of lawyers, judges and community leaders to help drive the process. It will be headed by Allan Fineblit, the former longtime chief executive officer of the Law Society of Manitoba.
“The reality faced by Manitobans who interact with the current system is that, too often, it can be highly adversarial and irreparably damaging for families, especially for young children,” Stefanson told a news conference. “Our government is prepared to make changes to the current model to reduce harm and improve outcomes for families.”
Fineblit, now in private practice with Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP, said issues surrounding divorce, child custody and access to children are some of the most important and difficult that individuals can face.
“The system that we have to resolve those kinds of disputes is expensive, it takes too long, it’s too adversarial — and for many people, the system is just simply not accessible,” he said.
Fineblit said a goal is to come up with more “collaborative” dispute settlement mechanisms that then would be scrutinized and enforced by the courts.
“We know what the problem is. I think the time has come to actually do something about it,” he said. “Right now, the courts are full of self-represented litigants, who don’t want to be there, who don’t frankly have the skills or capacity to fairly represent themselves. The system is very complicated.”
Fineblit said his group could present recommendations to government as early as February or March.
“We hope to work quickly. This isn’t going to be a project that’s going to go on for years. It’s going to be a project that goes on for months,” he said.
Fineblit said there are no Canadian models for what is being attempted in Manitoba, with many provinces making “incremental” improvements to their systems in recent years.
The closest system to what is being envisaged in Manitoba is one that’s used in Australia, he said.
larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
History
Updated on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 8:40 PM CDT: FInal write through