Characteristics Of Family Trials
Family lawsuits are special processes that mainly deal with issues such as marriage, filiation, adoption, unions and coexistence, guardianship, custody, marital status and the right to maintenance.
The law provides that family trials must respect the principles of effective judicial protection, immediacy, good faith and procedural loyalty, officiousness, orality and limited access to the file.
Regarding limited access to the file is important since, given the nature of the issues that are dealt with in this type of trial, it is necessary to limit the principle of publicity of the judicial proceedings that is established in the Organic Law of the Judicial Power.
On the other hand, and due to their particular characteristics , family trials increasingly accept and request the intervention of mediators and forensic psychologists. Next, we will see some elements to better understand the different characteristics of family lawsuits.
Principles of family lawsuits
Given their nature, family lawsuits must be governed by certain specific principles. For example, the rules governing the procedure should be applied primarily with the aim of facilitating access to justice and the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
The judges who handle these cases must also be specialized and always have multidisciplinary support. When children or adolescents are involved, the decisions made must always consider the best interests of the minors.
The fear of a family trial
A family lawsuit can be very intimidating for those involved in it. It must be considered that they are people who are already vulnerable due to the family conflict they are experiencing. It deals with divorces, separations, child custody, etc. All of them subjects that compromise feelings and that expose our most intimate life.
The final and final decisions of the judges depend on a number of factors and are usually based, to a large extent, on the documents and expert evidence provided in writing during the trial. With all this, despite the fact that the actions of the parties during the process are not usually final, it is possible that insecurity and fear make us make mistakes that harm and transcend the sentence.
For all these reasons, it is important to work with the lawyer before facing the trial in order to prepare it and arrive as calm as possible for that day that can be so feared. The professional will inform us about the parts into which the trial is divided and all the details of its development so that nothing is unknown.
Also the lawyer will guide us about what is good and what not to say. Generally, fairly simple terms are used in family trials to refer to the legal aspects, so it is often difficult to understand and easily adapt to the situation.
Forensic psychology in family trials
In addition to the strictly legal aspects, as the rates of separation and divorce have increased, the intervention of psychologists during family trials is increasingly frequent. The main objective is to provide scientific knowledge related to child psychology and other aspects related to interpersonal relationships.
During a family trial, the forensic psychologist will give his expert opinion. It is the objective and impartial opinion of a specialist technician, with special scientific knowledge, whose objective is to determine certain facts or their consequences. In the event that minors are involved, either parent or the Judge may request the expert evidence.
This test is called a Psychosocial Report. Your goal is for a psychologist and social worker to examine parents and children. And that from that examination they make an opinion recommending that custody be handed over to one or the other parent, or that joint custody be established. This opinion will help the Judge make final decisions.
In more serious cases, such as abandonment, specialists may even recommend that custody be removed from both of them and the minor will be placed in the care of a public institution.
These teams of specialists are paid for with taxpayer money. Those who demand the intervention of these professionals do not have to pay anything; it is an absolutely free service.
