Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

Chief Justice Zaila McCalla said last week that she was aware of the complaints. - File

The slow pace at which divorce petitions are being granted in the Supreme Court since the Matrimonial Causes Rules were amended in September 2006, paving the way for divorces to be granted in chambers without a hearing, is causing severe hardships for both lawyers and their clients.

There is now a huge backlog of divorce petitions and lawyers are calling for immediate steps to be taken to dispose of them.

A St. Ann businessman complained last week that, in anticipation of getting his divorce, he had set his wedding for last week Saturday in the hope that he and his new wife would be abroad on their honeymoon during the Christmas holidays, but he had to postpone his wedding plans.

He said his divorce petition was filed in June 2007 and his lawyer had assured him that it would have been heard and granted by October the latest, but that never materialised. The reason, he was told, was that his petition was caught up in "the big and growing divorce backlog".

Threats from client

A lawyer told The Gleaner tha she had filed a divorce petition in January 2007, up to now, almost 12 months later, the petition has not been granted.

"My client has been threatening to take me to the General Legal Council because he thinks that I am the one holding up his divorce," the lawyer complained.

Other lawyers say their clients, too, have been asking back for the fees they paid because of the long delay in having the petitions granted. The lawyers say they want their clients to know that they are not responsible for the delay.

Chief Justice Zaila McCalla said last week that she was aware of the complaints. She said there were some glitches to be ironed out since the amended rules came into effect and she gave her assurance that the problems would be dealt with expeditiously.

Cases not assigned

According to some lawyers, they are fully aware that the Supreme Court judges are over-burdened with work because of the large number of cases before the courts, which is a reason for divorce petitions not being heard as quickly as they should be.

In the past, divorce petitions were put on the Supreme Court trial lists each week and assigned to specific judges.

Now, that is not the case. Instead, judges are asked to deal with the petitions when they have completed the other cases assigned to them.

After a busy day in court, hearing civil or criminal cases that could run the entire course of their workday, few Supreme Court judges find themselves with 'spare time' to process and grant divorce petitions - hence the pile-up.

It is the suggestion of some lawyers that divorce petitions should be placed back on the court list and assigned to judges like the other cases, as was formerly the practice.

They say that once divorce petitions are placed on the court list, there would be accountability as lawyers and clients would be able to follow their petitions.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com