The Gazette 1979

JULY-AUGUST 1979

GAZETTE

Family Law and the Work of A.I.M. Group By DEIRDRE McDEVITT, A.I.M. Group

horrific as they were even three years ago; family homes can no longer be sold without the consent of both spouses; wives and children have a right to decent main- tenance, and barring orders (though not working to everyone's satisfaction) are at least a deterrent. That is not to say that anyone who has a marital problem finds it easy. Coming to terms with the fact that a problem exists is difficult, doing something about it is not easy either but this is where we hope we can help, by weighing up the situation and deciding with the person whether legal action is realistic and what steps are necessary from then on. Common problems are finance, alcoholism, violence and infidelity, which is on the increase. An example of the type of case we handle is the young married mother of two children forced to leave the marital home with the children because of her husband's mental cruelty and who has been served with a maintenance and barring order summons and notified of custody proceedings. She did not understand the mean- ing of the summons, particularly in view of the fact that she was not earning, she had no solicitor to whom she could go to get advice and also did not have the means to employ one. We were able to explain to her what was involved and put her in touch with a sympathetic solicitor who took counter proceedings. However, the number of solicitors handling this type of work is limited and those that do are very overworked. Due to the lack of civil legal aid, though we may advise our clients to take legal action, this is not always within their reach. The majority of women in this country give up their jobs on marriage to rear their families and are, therefore, dependent on their husbands. This leaves them in a very vulnerable position when a problem arises within the marriage. Though they may have a few pounds stored away for a rainy day they know it will not be sufficient for a court hearing and rely on husbands to pay the costs. Any woman calling on a solicitor to take a case to court, because of her position, demands a great deal of under- standing. As often as not it is her first dealing with the law, she may have guilt feelings for her failure in marriage and her decision to take legal action, particularly where separation is involved, is not taken lightly. She is split between anxiety for her future and that of her children's welfare. We know that family problems can often be difficult and long-drawn out and we are often confronted with women who have already been through the courts and are not happy with the results, such as Mrs. B., a farmer's wife with two children. She was advised by her solicitor to leave her husband. Knowing the man, Mrs. B. wanted a lump sum payment so that she could finish with the marriage and concentrate on rearing her children and per- haps later return to work herself, but her solicitor felt it would be wiser to accept weekly payments. These are only coming intermittently and Mrs. B. has to keep returning to court to remind her husband of his 65

The objectives of AIM Group ( "A. I .M. "- Action, Interest, Motivation) are to highlight the areas of Irish life where women are discriminated against, show attitudes of politicians and political parties against, show attitudes of politicians and political parties towards reforms we know are necessary to improve their position under Irish Law and to educate women as to their rights under present law in such areas as separation, maintenance, custody, property and social welfare benefits. At the present time we have branches in Athlone, Clonmel, Dundalk, Galway and Limerick. We began in 1971 doing research into the position of Irishwomen within marriage and published our first report on "The Need for Family Maintenance Legislation in Ireland" in 1972. This was followed in 1975 by another report based on a study we completed on "Legal Separations in Ireland." After the enactment of the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses & Children) Act 1976 and the Family Home Protection Act 1976 we published four leaflets explaining how these two Acts operate, including one on Church and Civil Annulments and one explaining the difference between a separation agreement and a deed of separation. Members of AIM have spoken on numerous platforms throughout the country on the subject of family law reform, and each year we organise a public meeting in Dublin on topics which, in our opinion, need airing (e.g. this year, International Year of the Child, our theme was "Education - Possibilities for Personal Development"). Our branches also hold public meetings, though perhaps not as frequently. A very important aspect of our work, and one which we take seriously as a pressure group, is meetings with Government Ministers and all members of the Oireachtas and with such bodies as the Law Reform Commission. Just recently we published our first magazine called "Women's AIM" which is being distributed nationally; we plan to publish three annually. When AIM Group began in 1971, I personally saw our work partly as an academic exercise investigating family law in other coun- tries and pinpointing faults in our own legal system and never visualised that four years later we would be forced to open a Women's Centre to cope with legal and social advice which women seemed to need. Those of us who emerged with the Group averaged about three telephone calls daily to our homes at this time and as publicity for the organisation grew so the number who needed help grew. It seemed that nobody cared about marital Problems before then, if you had them you learned to live with them. Our centre, which is now at 14 Upr. Leeson Street, Dublin 4 (Telephone No. 763587) is open five mornings a week for anyone who cares to call. Our committee of twenty take turns in operating the Centre. We have all taken a course in counselling and are familiar with all aspects of family law. The cases we hear today are not as