PKWA DIVORCE & FAMILY LAWYERS QUOTED IN THE STRAITS TIMES ON FAMILY LAW MATTERS

Family Lawyer Dorothy Tan quoted in the Straits Times article entitled “Multi-disciplinary team to handle ‘high conflict’ divorces”

PKWA Law Family and Matrimonial Partner Dorothy Tan has been quoted in the Straits Times article entitled “Multi-disciplinary team to handle ‘high conflict’ divorces” The article was first published on 20 July 2020.

SINGAPORE – The Family Justice Courts (FJC) is planning to start a pilot programme where the same team of judges, mediators, counsellors and other professionals will work together with a couple from the start to the end of their divorce process .

Referring to the Multi-Disciplinary Team pilot programme expected to start in the third or fourth quarter this year, the FJC spokesman said: “The pilot seeks to reframe family litigation from being adversarial and rights-focused, to being problem-solving and solutions-focused.”

She explained that in divorce proceedings, the issues are less about the rights and wrongs, but more about having to address the consequences of family breakdown and helping families to move forward.

For a start in the pilot, the FJC will focus on couples embroiled in “high conflict” cases such as when there are complex child-related issues or multiple court proceedings.

The Multi-Disciplinary Team will pro-actively manage the case and bring in appropriate court processes and specialist services such as those found in the community as early as possible.

PKWA Law Practice family lawyer Dorothy Tan said most cases now do not have a fixed team of judges and other professionals.

Having a fixed team means that the professionals have a deeper understanding of the family and issues involved and deeper collaboration to handle the case.

She said: “This is a more tailored approach to reduce the acrimony and to better deal with the issues at hand.”

The Multi-Disciplinary Team is part of the therapeutic justice focus which the FJC’s Presiding Judge Debbie Ong stressed in its Workplan 2020.

Therapeutic justice replaces the adversarial approach, with one that is problem-solving and families are supported holistically to help them cope with the fallout from the marital breakdown.

Justice Ong said: “It is known that a party facing divorce can be deeply affected by fear – fear of losing one’s children; fear of not being able to survive after the failed relationship whether emotionally or financially; fear, because one’s self-identity itself is threatened.

“Anxiety, fear and other emotions affect one’s capacity to make good, rational decisions.

Full article can be found here.

Source: The Straits Times

Author: Theresa Tan

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