(Staff reporter) The Legislative Yuan passed the Family Proceedings Act at third reading on Dec. 12 2011. Containing 200 articles in six chapters, the Act includes regulations regarding court appearance of minor children with the company of social workers, guardians ad litem or family dispute investigators, consolidated adjudication, assurance of obligation fulfillment, as well as child custody and parent visits. To protect the right of minor children to expression their opinions, it is stipulated that specialists with social work background will accompany minor children and those declared to be under custody or requiring assistance to keep them calm when they appear in court to express their choices and make their statements. The Act also allows minor children to make their statements outside the court under the assistance of child and juvenile psychologists, guardians ad litem or other specialists. This is an important milestone in the reform of family justice system.
Consolidated adjudication means litigation and non-litigation matters in relation to the fundamental issue can be consolidated for adjudication to prevent concerned parties in family disputes from filing lawsuits repeatedly and having to pay for the corresponding expenses. For example, when a victim of domestic violence files for divorce, he or she may also combine other claims in the litigation, such as alimony and compensation, return of already paid living allowance, child custody, minor children’s living allowance, etc. for consolidated adjudication and decision.
Assurance and execution of obligation fulfillment is designed basically to prompt fulfillment of obligations. Once the child custody or alimony is decided, the court may take appropriate prompting measures to assure that the obligated party understands the necessity of fulfillment and its importance for the minor children and thus fulfills the obligation and keep the relationships in harmony. For instance, once the court has sentenced a married couple to be divorced and placed the minor children under the mother’s custody, and the father must pay the alimony on a monthly basis but may visit the children regularly, the prompting measures can help ensure that parents abide by the court decision and fulfill the obligations.
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