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The Family Courts Act 2024: what changes and when
Last verified2026-10-07The Family Courts Act 2024 creates a Family High Court, Family Circuit Court and Family District Court. What is law now, what is only planned, and what it means for a divorce started in 2026 or 2027.
This guide covers the Republic of Ireland.
The Family Courts Act 2024 is the largest change to how family law is run in Ireland since the 1996 divorce legislation. It was signed into law on 13 November 2024 as Number 48 of 2024. But signing an Act and bringing it into force are two different things, and as at the date on this page most of what the Act promises is still a plan rather than a working court. This guide separates the two.
What the Act does
The Act creates three new courts, each sitting as a division of an existing court:
- a Family High Court, within the High Court;
- a Family Circuit Court, within the Circuit Court;
- a Family District Court, within the District Court.
Each has a Principal Judge, and judges assigned to them are expected to have family law training and experience. The intention is that family cases are heard by judges who do family law, in lists set aside for family law, rather than slotted into general civil lists.
The Act also provides for a significant shift of work downward. At present the District Court cannot hear divorce or judicial separation at all; those cases go to the Circuit Court, with the High Court taking cases where land is valued over €3 million (section 38 of the 1996 Act). Under the Act, the Family District Court is to hear divorce, judicial separation and civil partnership dissolution where the market value of any land involved is up to €1,000,000. The Act allows the Minister to raise that limit by order, up to €2,000,000. Where both parties consent to the Family District Court dealing with the case, there is to be no monetary limit at all.
The Act also contains provisions on how family proceedings are to be conducted and on the use of mediation and other dispute resolution. We will summarise those as they are commenced; the rule-change tracker is the live record.
What is law today, and what is not
This is the part to read carefully.
Section 1 of the Act says it comes into operation on such day or days as the Minister appoints by order. That means each part of the Act is only law in practice once a commencement order names it. An Act can be fully signed and still have most of its sections sitting dormant for years.
As of our last check, the new family courts had not begun sitting and the Family District Court was not hearing divorce. The current position remains the one described in How divorce works in Ireland, step by step: the Circuit Court hears most divorces, the High Court hears cases over €3 million in land, and the District Court hears maintenance, custody, access and domestic violence but not divorce.
The Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration has published an implementation plan. Its stated plan is:
| Phase | The Department's stated timing | What is planned |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | From January 2027 | Family District, Circuit and High Courts begin operating in three locations |
| Phase 2 | From January 2028 | Extension to further locations |
| Phase 3 | From January 2029 | Full implementation nationwide |
These are the Department's dates, not commencement orders. The three Phase 1 locations, the transitional rules for cases already in the system, and the court rules the new courts will use had not been published as official instruments at the date of this page. Treat every row of that table as subject to change, and check the rule-change tracker before relying on it.
What it means for a divorce started in 2026
If you file in 2026, your case is a Circuit Court case under the existing rules. The forms are the same (Form 2N, 37A, 37B and the rest, see Divorce documents in Ireland: every form and when you need it), the Courts Service charges no fee, and a Circuit Court judge hears the case in private.
The Act does not change the grounds for divorce. The two-years-apart rule in section 5 of the 1996 Act, the requirement that there be no reasonable prospect of reconciliation, and the requirement of proper provision all stay exactly as they are. See How long do you have to be separated before divorce in Ireland? The two-in-three-years rule and Proper provision: how Irish courts divide assets on divorce. Nothing about the new court structure makes a divorce available any sooner.
Whether a case filed in 2026 and still pending in 2027 moves into a new Family Circuit Court list will depend on the transitional provisions in the commencement orders and on whether your venue is one of the Phase 1 locations. Until those are published, the working assumption is that your case continues where it was filed.
What it means for a divorce started in 2027
If the Department's plan holds, a person filing in early 2027 in one of the three Phase 1 locations may be able to apply to a Family District Court rather than the Circuit Court, provided the land involved is within the limit or both spouses consent. Everywhere else, the Circuit Court remains the venue.
Three practical points follow:
- The forms and the fee position will be set by new court rules. Until those rules are published, nobody can say what the Family District Court application will look like.
- Costs may differ. District Court practice has historically involved fewer formal steps than the Circuit Court, but there is no published figure for what a District Court divorce will cost. The ranges in What a divorce costs in Ireland are for the current Circuit Court process.
- Waiting times are not published for any family list now, and there is no projection for the new courts. Do not plan around an assumed improvement.
What does not change at all
- Child maintenance, custody and access applications already sit in the District Court and continue to be free to file (/guides/guardianship-custody-access-ireland).
- Domestic violence orders remain District Court applications (/guides/domestic-violence-orders-ireland).
- Legal aid eligibility is governed by the Civil Legal Aid Regulations, not by this Act (/guides/legal-aid-divorce-ireland).
- The Family Mediation Service remains free (/guides/mediation-family-mediation-service-ireland).
How to keep up with it
Each commencement order is a statutory instrument, published on the Irish Statute Book and usually announced by the Department. The site tracks them at the rule-change tracker, with the date each section comes into force and what it does. If a commencement order affects a guide on this site, the guide's "last verified" date is updated with it.
Where this leaves you
For anyone deciding what to do in the next twelve months, the court structure you will deal with is the current one. the cost and route planner works from today's Circuit Court process and will be updated when the new courts have published rules and figures. If you want advice on timing in your own circumstances, the solicitor page explains how to be put in touch with a family law solicitor.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Family Courts Act 2024 in force?
It was signed into law on 13 November 2024, but section 1 says it comes into operation only on days the Minister appoints by order. As of our last check the new family courts had not started sitting. The tracker at /changes records each commencement order as it is made.
Will the District Court be able to grant divorces?
That is the plan. Under the Act, a Family District Court is to hear divorce, judicial separation and civil partnership dissolution where the land involved is worth up to €1,000,000, and without limit where both spouses consent. Until the relevant sections are commenced and the courts established, divorce stays in the Circuit Court.
Should I wait for the new courts before applying?
Nothing in the Act changes the conditions for divorce: two years apart in the previous three, no prospect of reconciliation and proper provision. The Department's stated plan starts in three locations only in January 2027 and reaches the whole country later. There is no published reason to delay an application that is ready.
What happens to a divorce already in the Circuit Court when the new courts open?
The transitional rules have not been published. The Department's plan is phased by location, so cases in most venues will continue in the existing Circuit Court lists for some time. We will add the detail to /changes when a commencement order sets it out.
Where can I read the Act itself?
The Act is Number 48 of 2024. The Oireachtas page for the Family Courts Bill 2022 carries the text as passed and links to the enacted version on the Irish Statute Book.