-As Committee Drafts legislation for its Establishment
By Jerromie S. Walters
MONROVIA – The Committee for the Establishment of the Family Court, a specialized court designed to handle the legal complexities of family held its final sitting on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, culminating a month of intensive work to draft the legislation needed to bring the court to life. Set up by Chief Justice Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay Sr., this initiative promises to centralize and humanize the legal process for families in crisis.
For years, Liberians navigating the painful turmoil of divorce, child custody battles, and adoption have found their cases scattered across overburdened and ill-equipped courts. A divorce might be heard in a Civil Law Court, while a custody dispute lands in a Juvenile Court, and a property division in a Probate Court. This fragmented system often exacerbates the trauma for families, forcing them through multiple, impersonal legal gauntlets.
Recognizing this critical gap, Chief Justice Gbeisay announced the plan for a dedicated Family and Children Court, framing it as an urgent necessity for the nation. “There exists an urgent need for a Family Court,” the Chief Justice stated during the formal opening of the October Term of the Supreme Court. He emphasized that the current courts “are already overburdened and lack the expertise to handle such sensitive cases,” and that the new institution would address domestic disputes and child-related cases in a “more specialized and humane manner.”
When established, the Family Court will have exclusive jurisdiction over all family-centric matters, including marriage, divorce, child support, adoption, and custody. By concentrating these cases, the court will develop specialized expertise, ensure consistency in rulings, and, most importantly, provide a single, supportive environment for families.
The high-level committee tasked with drafting the foundational law is chaired by Her Honor Lucrezia Thomas Anderson and includes representatives from the Ministry of Gender, the Association of Female Lawyers (AFELL), and the Liberia National Bar Association, ensuring a multi-stakeholder approach.
Why it matters:
A Family Court is a specialized judicial tribunal established with the primary purpose of adjudicating legal disputes and matters that arise within the context of family relationships, focusing on issues such as divorce, child custody, and juvenile delinquency. The foundational philosophy behind these courts is to handle these deeply personal and often emotionally charged cases in a more sensitive, efficient, and expert manner than a general-purpose court system typically can.
To achieve this, Family Courts are characterized by judges and support staff who often receive specialized training in family law, child psychology, and social work, and they prioritize the best interests of the child as the paramount principle in any ruling that affects minors. Furthermore, the procedures within a Family Court, while still formal legal proceedings, are often designed to be less adversarial, frequently encouraging mediation and collaborative settlement to help families reach voluntary agreements and utilizing a more informal physical setting, such as conference rooms, to reduce intimidation.
The types of cases these courts handle are extensive and include the dissolution of marriage, or divorce, along with the accompanying issues of spousal support and the division of marital assets, the determination of legal and physical child custody, visitation rights, and child support payments, matters concerning domestic violence protection orders, the establishment of paternity, and proceedings for adoption and guardianship, as well as cases involving juvenile delinquency and child welfare, including instances of neglect or abuse.
Research shows that the structure and integration of Family Courts vary significantly from country to country, with many nations operating them as a dedicated division within a broader court system rather than a wholly separate entity. In Western countries, the United States maintains Family Courts primarily at the state and county levels, where they are integral parts of each state’s unified judicial system. Similarly, the United Kingdom operates a Family Court as a single unified entity across both England and Wales, which is part of the broader court and tribunal service.
Canada also features specialized family law divisions within its provincial and territorial superior courts to handle these specific matters. In Australia, a comprehensive federal family court system exists, with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia handling the majority of family law matters across the nation, while Germany integrates family law cases into its civil court system, where specialized chambers within the local courts, known as Amtsgerichte, are designated as family courts. France also follows a model of integration, where the Tribunal Judiciaire includes a specific judge, the Juge aux Affaires Familiales, who is exclusively responsible for ruling on family law disputes.
In Africa, the geography of Family Courts is more varied, often reflecting a complex interaction between modern state legal systems and traditional or religious customs. South Africa features a well-developed system with dedicated Divorce Courts for uncontested matters and specialized High Court divisions for more complex family law cases, all operating within the framework of its progressive constitution. Kenya has established a specialized family division within its High Court, which is tasked with handling complex family issues, while Nigeria’s approach is more fragmented, with family-related matters often being heard in the customary, Sharia, or state high courts depending on the region and the beliefs of the parties involved, without a single, unified national Family Court.
