Uptick in family legal disputes involving juveniles

The number of marriage and family cases involving juveniles increased between 2018 and last year, a city court revealed today ahead of Children's Day.

The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court issued rulings on 751 cases involving juveniles resulting from marriage and family disputes over the past three years – 230 in 2018, 256 in 2019 and 265 last year.

Among these cases, 516 concerned the custody of children after divorces, while 128 were related to disputes over custody fees.

Another 56 were related to changes in custody relationships.

The divorce rate in the city has increased in recent years, accompanied by a growing number of marriage and family disputes, the court said.

In total, 834 juveniles were involved in these cases, and 77 families had two children.

Juveniles involved in such cases tended to be younger, and there was an increase of custody fees concerned, the court said. Arrears of custody fees and extra education and medical fees accounted for a high percentage of these cases.

The court has established a mental-health intervention system, and introduced psychological evaluation and counseling services to ease children's concerns and anxiety and make accurate judgements of their mental conditions.