Made | 13th June 2007 | ||
Laid before Parliament | 19th June 2007 | ||
Coming into force | 13th July 2007 |
Formation of Family Panels
3.
—(1) Subject to rule 5, there shall be a Committee, to be known as a family panel, for each local justice area.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3), the family panel shall consist of the family justices for the local justice area to which the family panel relates.
(3) A District Judge (Magistrates' Courts) who has been nominated by the Lord Chief Justice to hear family proceedings shall be a member of the family panel for a local justice area in which he is usually nominated to sit as a justice of the peace, except where that local justice area is within the Greater London area.
Meetings of Family Panels
4.
—(1) A family panel shall meet as often as necessary but not less than twice a year.
(2) One of the meetings of the family panel, to be known as the family election meeting, shall take place between the 1st September and 30th November each year.
Combined Family Panels
5.
—(1) Where, immediately before 13th July 2007, two or more outgoing panels had formed a combined panel, there shall be a combined family panel for the local justice areas covered by the combined outgoing panel.
(2) There shall be a combined family panel for the Greater London area.
(3) The Lord Chief Justice may, on the application of the family panels concerned and after consultation with the Area Director, give approval for—
Chairman and deputy chairmen of Family Panels
6.
—(1) A person who, immediately before 13th July 2007, held office as a chairman of an outgoing panel or a combined outgoing panel shall hold office as chairman of the family panel for the corresponding local justice area or areas for a term beginning on 13th July 2007 and ending on 31st December 2007.
(2) The members of each family panel shall elect, by secret ballot, a chairman and one or more deputy chairmen in accordance with this rule, to hold office for a term of one year from the 1st January following the date of appointment.
(3) The members of the family panel shall elect the chairman and one or more deputy chairmen to hold office from 1st January 2008—
(4) At the family election meeting in 2007 and each subsequent family election meeting the members of the family panel shall decide—
(b) if appropriate, the method of conducting a postal ballot.
(5) Nominations for the chairman and one or more deputy chairmen may be made by the members of the family panel to the justices' clerk.
(6) If a vacancy occurs in the chairmanship or deputy chairmanship, the members of the family panel shall, as soon as practicable, elect by secret ballot a chairman or, as the case may be, deputy chairman, to hold office for the remainder of the period for which the person replaced would have served.
Eligibility for re-election of chairman or deputy chairman
7.
—(1) In this rule—
(2) A previous chairman shall not be eligible for re-election as chairman if, on 1st January after the election, he will have held such office for periods totalling more than two years unless at least six years have elapsed since he last held office.
(3) In any event a previous chairman shall not be eligible for re-election as chairman if, on the 1st January after the election, he will have held office for periods totalling more than five years.
(4) A family justice who has held office as deputy chairman of a family panel established under these Rules, or of an outgoing panel or combined outgoing panel, shall not be eligible for re-election as deputy chairman if on 1st January after the election he will have held such office for periods totalling more than five years.
Conduct of ballots
8.
—(1) Where there is an equality of votes between any candidates in a ballot and the addition of a vote would entitle one of them to be elected the justices' clerk for the local justice area shall decide between the candidates by lot.
(2) Where a ballot paper is returned unmarked or marked in such a manner that there is a doubt as to the identity of the justice or justices for whom the vote is cast the ballot paper or the vote, as the case may be, shall be rejected when the votes are counted.
Functions of Family Panels
9.
A family panel shall—
Chairmanship of Family Proceedings Courts
10.
—(1) A family court, other than one consisting of a District Judge (Magistrates' Courts) sitting alone, shall sit under the chairmanship of—
(2) A family justice may preside before he has been included on a list of approved family court chairmen only if—
(3) In this rule "list of approved family court chairmen" means a list kept by a FTDC or, where there is no FTDC, a BTDC in accordance with rules 32 and 35 of the 2007 Rules.
Absence of family justice entitled to preside
11.
—(1) The family justices present may appoint one of their number to preside in a family proceedings court to deal with any case in the absence of a justice entitled to preside under rule 10 if—
(2) The condition in paragraph (1)(b) does not apply if by reason of illness, circumstances unforeseen when the family justices to sit were chosen or other emergency no justice who complies with that condition is present.
Revocations
12.
The Family Proceedings Courts (Constitution) Rules 1991 and the Family Proceedings Courts (Constitution) (Greater London) Rules 2003 are hereby revoked.
Phillips of Worth Matravers, C.J.
13th June 2007
[2] section 20 was amended by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Schedule 4, Part I, paragraphs 308 and 321.back
[3] 1980 c.43; section 67 was substituted by the Courts Act 2003, section 49(1) and amended by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 Schedule 4, Part I, paragraphs 99 and 101.back
[5] section 22 was amended by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c.4), Schedule 4, Part 1, paragraphs 308 and 323 and section 24 was amended by that Act, Schedule 4, Part I, paragraphs 308 and 324.back
[6] S.I.2003/2960; as amended by S.I. 2005/617 and 2006/680.back
[7] S.I. 1991/1405; as amended by S.I. 2000/1873 and 1920, 2003/3367, 2005/617 and 2006/680.back