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Part VE+W Family Business: Distribution and Transfer

Jurisdiction of county courts in matrimonial causes and mattersE+W

33 Jurisdiction of county courts in matrimonial causes.E+W

(1)The Lord Chancellor may [F1, with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice,] by order designate any county court as a divorce county court and any court so designated shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine any matrimonial cause, except that it shall have jurisdiction to try such a cause only if it is also designated in the order as a court of trial.

In this Part of this Act “divorce county court” means a county court so designated.

(2)The jurisdiction conferred by this section on a divorce county court shall be exercisable throughout England and Wales, but rules of court may provide for a matrimonial cause pending in one such court to be heard and determined in another or partly in that and partly in another.

(3)Every matrimonial cause shall be commenced in a divorce county court and shall be heard and determined in that or another such court unless or except to the extent it is transferred to the High Court under section 39 below or section 41 of the M1County Courts Act 1984 (transfer to High Court by order of High Court).

(4)The Lord Chancellor may [F2, with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice,] by order designate a divorce county court as a court for the exercise of jurisdiction in matrimonial matters arising under Part III of this Act.

(5)The power to make an order under subsection (1) or (4) above shall be exercisable by statutory instrument.

[F3(6)The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 109(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise his functions under this section.]

Textual Amendments

Marginal Citations

34 Jurisdiction of divorce county courts as respects financial relief and protection of children.E+W

(1)Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, a divorce county court shall have the following jurisdiction, namely—

(a)jurisdiction to exercise any power exercisable under Part II or Part III of the 1973 Act in connection with any petition, decree or order pending in or made by such a court and to exercise any power under section 27 or 35 of that Act;

(b)if designated by an order under section 33(4) above, jurisdiction to exercise any power under Part III of this Act.

(2)Any proceedings for the exercise of a power which a divorce county court has jurisdiction to exercise by virtue of subsection (1)(a) or (b) above shall be commenced in such divorce county court as may be prescribed by rules of court.

(3)A divorce county court shall not by virtue of subsection (1)(a) above have jurisdiction to exercise any power under section 32, 33, 36 or 38 of the 1973 Act; but nothing in this section shall prejudice the exercise by a county court of any jurisdiction conferred on county courts by any of those sections.

(4)Nothing in this section shall affect the jurisdiction of a magistrates’ court under section 35 of the 1973 Act.

35 Consideration of agreements or arrangements.E+W

Any provision to be made by rules of court for the purposes of section 7 of the 1973 Act with respect to any power exercisable by the court on an application made before the presentation of a petition shall confer jurisdiction to exercise the power on divorce county courts.

36 Assignment of Circuit judges to matrimonial proceedings.E+W

[F4(1)]The jurisdiction conferred by the preceding provisions of this Part of this Act on divorce county courts, so far as it is exercisable by judges of such courts, shall be exercised by such Circuit judges as the [F5Lord Chief Justice may, after consulting the Lord Chancellor, direct] .

[F6(2)The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 109(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise his functions under this section.]

Textual Amendments