The Family Courts Act, 1984

What it does

The Family Courts Act, 1984 creates a separate court for family disputes. The idea is that such disputes are better handled by a court that tries first to bring the parties to a settlement and uses a less formal procedure than an ordinary civil court. The State Governments, after consulting the High Court, establish Family Courts, and the Act requires one for every city or town with a population above ten lakh.

The jurisdiction is listed in the Act. It covers suits and proceedings between parties to a marriage for a decree of nullity, restitution of conjugal rights, judicial separation, divorce, the validity of a marriage or the status of a person, property of the spouses, maintenance, guardianship and custody of a minor, and injunctions arising from a marital relationship. It also covers proceedings for maintenance under the criminal procedure law, which now sits in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

Who it binds

It binds the parties to the disputes within its list: spouses and former spouses, children whose custody or guardianship is in question, and those who claim or owe maintenance. It binds the court as well, which must make an effort at settlement in the first instance and may take the help of counsellors, welfare experts and persons from the family. The Act overrides inconsistent provisions of other laws, so a matter that falls within its list belongs before the Family Court and not the civil court.

What has changed, and when

• The Act was passed in 1984 and Family Courts have been set up State by State since then, so the date from which a Family Court exists for a particular place depends on the State's notification.
• The criminal procedure code that the Act refers to for maintenance proceedings was replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which came into force on 1 July 2024. The site's page on that Sanhita explains how matters begun before and after that date are treated.
• Rules about procedure are made by the High Courts, and practice differs between States.

What turns on it in practice

The first practical point is forum. A matrimonial or custody dispute filed in the wrong court loses time, and the Family Court is the place for the matters in the Act's list. A petition has to be checked against the list, and against the local limits of the Family Court that will hear it.

The second is the way a case is run. The court is expected to explore reconciliation before it hears evidence, and an order of the court that is passed on a settlement will be recorded as a decree. A party cannot demand to be represented by a lawyer as of right, though the court may, in its discretion, appoint an amicus curiae to assist, and parties who have been through counselling often arrive at the hearing with a clearer view of what can be settled.

The third is appeal. An appeal from a Family Court's judgment or order lies to the High Court, with exceptions for interim orders and for orders passed by consent. That makes the Family Court the place where the facts are found, and the record made there is the record the High Court will read.

The site's matrimonial and family practice works under this Act in matrimonial disputes, custody proceedings, asset structuring and domestic violence matters, each of which is heard, in the first instance, by the Family Court or, for some domestic violence reliefs, by a magistrate under a separate statute.