What about Family Court for Sando?

FAMILY law attorneys are expressing their disquiet over a decision to roll-out a Family Court in Tobago, while they continue to experience hardship in San Fernando.

They have since solicited the support of the Law Association to bring their concerns to the relevant authorities, including the Chief Justice.

Writing on behalf of the Family Law Association, veteran family court attorney Lynette Seebaran-Suite said, “We are to wonder whether proper or adequate consideration was given to the needs of the population before determining the allocation of resources for a roll-out in Tobago before San Fernando.

“There was certainly no consultation with family law practitioners and the announcement came as a surprise to most in the profession.

“Surely with the limited resources available to accomplish this roll-out, those limited resources should have been applied where the need is greatest and property already acquired and plans developed.”

In her letter to the association – which Sunday Newsday understands has recently met twice to discuss the issue – Seebaran-Suite said since the commencement of the Family Court project in 2004, promises were made to the Southern Bar and the rest of the legal community that the project would roll-out to San Fernando as soon as possible.

She said with that objective in mind, a building was acquired at considerable cost and plans were developed to convert the same into a Family Court while also preserving the heritage site.

“Years have passed perhaps even a decade and nothing else has been done. The failure to roll-out a Family Court to San Fernando has not only been discourteous to the family law practitioners countrywide but has seriously disadvantaged the members of the public who live and work in central and southern districts,” she said.

In June, the Southern Assembly of Lawyers were told that in the next six months, the old Cluny Convent building on Harris Promenade will be converted into a family court.

Seebaran-Suite said it was “manifestly unjust” and “prejudicial” that there were three different sets of rules applying to family proceedings. She said in San Fernando, and until this month, in Tobago, family law practitioners must make use of the rules of the civil proceedings to file all matters related to family type litigation, except for matrimonial cases.

She pointed out that after this month, it will only be in San Fernando that civil judges will have to manage family matters on their dockets.

“This means that the High Court in San Fernando must maintain an “old rules” registry to treat with matrimonial proceedings brought under the Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Act pursuant to the matrimonial causes rules.

“The courtrooms in San Fernando are not conducive to treating with family matters. The larger “trial courts” are often convened in such a manner that family matters are listed along with other civil proceedings and not treated as chamber proceedings.”

She also spoke of the challenges and delays experienced when filing a matrimonial case in San Fernando, while, according to her, when a matter is filed in the Family and Children Division in Port of Spain, a date and judge is assigned on the day of filing.

“This fact alone causes litigants coming from as far as Mayaro, Manzanilla or Cedros to utilise the Family and Children Division in Port of Spain,” she said.

She said this has caused the Family Court to become heavily overburdened and it now takes up to nine months, sometimes more, to receive probation or social services reports, causing a “great deal of frustration for litigants.”

“In San Fernando, we do not even have the benefit of specially-trained judges and we often encounter judges who are unfamiliar with family type proceedings, again a manifestly unjust circumstance for the litigant using the system,” she said.

“It is suggested that the area that most requires the roll-out of a second Family Court is San Fernando, where the population that will be serviced is larger and workload greater when compared with Tobago

The startup of a Family Court in San Fernando will lighten the load in Port of Spain and be of incredible benefit to the litigants who currently have to face hours of traffic on mornings to get to the Family Court on time for the hearing of their matters.

“Litigants/parents have to make arrangements for other persons to care for their children and take them to school and then just sit in traffic for hours to attend court, or in the alternative, journey to Port of Spain in the dark.

“If matters are delayed in court, frantic arrangements need to be made or matters aborted for those litigants to again journey to collect children from school or relieve baby sitters.

“Lawyers must also face the vagaries of traffic, often arriving late for matters through no fault of their own due to accidents, roadblocks or other unexpected traffic delays.

“We are to wonder whether proper or adequate consideration was given to the needs of the population before determining the allocation of resources for a roll-out in Tobago before San Fernando.

In July, it was revealed that Justice Carol Gobin will be assigned to the Family Court in Tobago, and although she, at first, resisted the move, she eventually agreed to go for one term, until December.

In her correspondence with CJ Ivor Archie on her re-assignment, Gobin pointed out that she has very little experience in family law and has never sat as a judge in the Family Court.

She also disclosed that no one, not even lawyers in Tobago, knew anything of the proposed roll-out of the court.