Shatter warns of ‘hyping acrimony’ in family law cases

JUSTICE Minister Alan Shatter has warned barristers and solicitors not to “hype acrimony” in family law cases, claiming too many cases were entering the legal system when they could instead be resolved through mediation.

Mr Shatter made his comments at the launch of a new Family Mediation Service (FMS) which, since it began on a pilot basis on March 21, has resolved 16 cases.

The pilot scheme will run for a year but in the past eight weeks, of the 554 people informed about it through the District Court, 110 expressed an interest in the process, which seeks to avoid the family going through the courts.