CC Family Procedure

Venue for proceedings

Family Circuit Court proceedings shall be brought in the county where any party to the proceedings ordinarily resides or carries on any profession, business or occupation.

Proceedings for the appointment of a guardian for a child shall be brought in the county where the applicant or the child to whom the application relates ordinarily resides or carries on any profession, business or occupation.

Proceedings for a declaration of parentage  where no party to the proceedings ordinarily resides or carries on any profession, business or occupation in the State shall be brought in the Dublin Circuit,

Proceedings under the Domestic Violence Act shall be brought in the county where the applicant resides or if the application is for a barring order or an emergency barring order, in the county where the place, in relation to which that application is made, is situated.

Proceedings on any application under the Gender Recognition Act shall be brought in the county in which the child on whose behalf the application is being brought ordinarily resides.

Requirements for all originating documents

Every originating document shall state the name, description, address and address for service of proceedings of each party to the proceedings and where, relevant, the name and address of any child to whom the proceedings relate.

Where neither any party to the proceedings nor any child to whom the proceedings relates resides in the county, the originating document shall additionally set out the basis on which jurisdiction is claimed.

Every originating document under this Order shall be dated and signed by the solicitor for the applicant or by the applicant, if acting in person. Where the applicant is a child, the originating document shall be signed by the solicitor for the applicant’s next friend, or by the next friend, if acting in person.

The address to which a respondent should apply in order to receive information in relation to legal aid shall also be included in every originating document.

Commencement  by Family Law Civil Bill

All proceedings for any one or more of the following reliefs shall be commenced by issuing out of the Office for the appropriate county of the appropriate Family Law Civil Bill in accordance with Form 2N of the Schedule of Forms, with such modifications as are appropriate, and which complies with the requirements of this Order which apply to proceedings for such relief:

• divorce;
• judicial separation;
• relief after a foreign divorce or separation outside the State, subject to the requirements of rule 14;
• nullity;
•  declaration of marital status;
• the determination of property issues between spouses under section 36 of the Family Law Act;
• the determination of property issues between formerly engaged couples under section 44 of the Divorce Act;
• relief under section 15A or section 25 of the Family Law Act, or section 18 of the Divorce Act (provision out of the estate of the other spouse);
• relief under the Guardianship Act, where sought in conjunction with, or ancillary to, other relief mentioned in this rule;
• relief under the Children Act;
• relief under the Maintenance Act;
• relief under the Family Home Act;
• relief under section 35 of the Status of Children Act;
• relief under section 22 of the Children and Family Relationships Act; relief under the Hague Convention Act or the Hague Child Convention.

Every Family Law Civil Bill shall be in numbered paragraphs setting out the relief sought and the grounds relied upon in support of the application.

Commencement by originating Notice of Motion

Proceedings for certain guardianship, custody, access and maintenance are  commenced by the issuing out of the Office for the appropriate county of an originating Notice of Motion, which complies with the requirements of this Order which apply to proceedings for such relief:

An originating Notice of Motion shall be entitled in the matter of the Act under which relief is sought and as between the applicant and any respondent, and shall specify precisely the relief sought.

Issue and entry of proceedings

On the issuing of a Family Law Civil Bill, originating Notice of Motion or originating Motion under this Order, a copy thereof shall be filed in the Office.

In any proceedings in which financial relief is sought, an Affidavit of Means in the intended action sworn by the Applicant shall be filed together with the Family Law Civil Bill.

In all proceedings where the welfare of a dependent child may be at issue, an Affidavit of Welfare in the intended action sworn by the Applicant shall be filed together with the Family Law Civil Bill.

All originating Notices of Motions and originating Motions issued in accordance with this Order shall be assigned a return date and listed before the Court on the return date.

Service of proceedings

A Family Law Civil Bill shall be served on the respondent together with:

• a copy of the appropriate statutory declaration made about mediaiton
• a copy of the filed Affidavit of Means,
• a copy of the applicant’s Affidavit of Welfare, in c

Where pension relief is sought, notice of the relief sought in accordance with Form 37C of the Schedule of Forms shall also be served on the trustees of the pension scheme in question in accordance with Order 11, rule 17, and an Affidavit of such service sworn and filed within 14 days of service of the Civil Bill.

A copy of any originating Notice of Motion to which there is a respondent shall be served on the respondent together with a copy of any Affidavit grounding same and any exhibits thereto not later than 14 days before the return date.

Where it is difficult or impossible to serve any respondent or other person directed to be served or notified within the jurisdiction, the Court or the County Registrar may make an Order:

• for substituted service, or
• for service outside the jurisdiction, or
• for both substituted service and service outside the jurisdiction, of the originating document or notice thereof.