Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH – The Ministry of Justice will issue licenses to counsel centers in line with a decision of the Council of Ministers in its last session to regulate the work of family counsels and introduce alternative means to end family disputes, according to informed sources. The Cabinet's decision will reduce the pressure on courts and processing time for family disputes that have accumulated in courts. The new centers will be run by Shariah experts, lawyers and other specialists. There will be an independent women's department that will work with disputing parties and try to convince them to reach reconciliation before taking their dispute to the court. Sources said the ministry will continue to look for more solutions to reduce pressure on courts and expedite the processing of such cases as well as financial and personal status cases, the majority of which are referred to courts. Sources also said that settlement procedures will take an average of one month and not exceed three months. The reconciliation sessions will be held confidentially and only persons connected with the dispute or authorized by the parties in dispute will be allowed to attend. The justice minister's social programs consultant, Nasser Al-Oud, commended the new steps taken by the ministry, adding that family cases related to divorce, alimony and child custody represent 60 percent of cases referred to courts all over the Kingdom. He said the women's department, which will be run within these centers, will focus on inheritance cases and cases in which fathers refuse to let their daughters get married and the like. If no amicable solution has been reached, the case will be referred to the pertinent court. He also said judges support the ministry's move to set up the centers and hopes the parties in dispute reach an agreement before their case is referred to courts. Meanwhile, a new bylaw for judges will come into force on Saturday, according to a source at the ministry. According to the bylaw, courts can seek the help of specialized companies to execute verdicts. The bylaw gives the Ministry of Justice the power to establish a specialized agency to deal with administrative and financial matters involved in the execution of court verdicts, Al-Madinah newspaper reported Thursday. The agency's jurisdiction includes issuing licenses to new companies that will oversee the process of transferring movable properties as part of the execution of verdicts in line with the norms set by the Justice Ministry in coordination with the Ministry of Interior. The agency will also issue licenses to other service providers involved in the execution of court verdicts. The Council of Ministers earlier decided to tap private sector companies to provide this service. According to the Justice Ministry source, the bylaw contains terms and conditions for issuing licenses to private sector firms, including bank guarantees, operational regulations and salaries and allowances of staff. The new system is expected to put an end to the common practice of ignoring court orders to provide alimony and child maintenance in custody disputes. The bylaw will plug all legal loopholes that disputants use to evade fulfilling their liabilities. According to the bylaw, a maximum three-month jail term will be awarded to either of the parents who fails to execute a court order, including visitation rights, in custody disputes. Those who try to obstruct execution of a verdict will also face a similar fate.
