Notice of the Supreme People's Court on Trying Cases regarding Marriage and Family Disputes in Accordance with Law and Effectively Safeguarding the Parties' Lawful Rights and Interests and Personal Safety

· Document Number：No. 569 [2017] of the Supreme People's Court

· Area of Law： Marriage,Family Support,Adoption,and Inheritance

· Level of Authority： Working Documents of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate

· Date issued：09-21-2017

· Effective Date：09-21-2017

· Status： Effective

· Issuing Authority： Supreme People's Court

Notice of the Supreme People's Court on Trying Cases regarding Marriage and Family Disputes in Accordance with Law and Effectively Safeguarding the Parties' Lawful Rights and Interests and Personal Safety
(No. 569 [2017] of the Supreme People's Court, September 21, 2017)
Recently, incidents of serious violence triggered by cases regarding marriage and family disputes have occurred occasionally, which harm the parties and even threaten and damage others' life and health, causing bad social impacts. In order to legally safeguard the lawful rights and interests and personal safety of the parties and maintain the litigation order, the following matters are hereby notified:
I. Fully comprehending the significance of the trial of cases regarding marriage and family disputes. There are a large amount of cases regarding marriage and family disputes, which cover a wide range, affect thousands of households, involve the protection of lawful rights and interests of minors, women, and the elderly, and are closely related to social harmony and stability. The improper resolution of disputes over family matters may easily trigger criminal cases and pose a serious challenge on the public security. The proper trial of cases regarding marriage and family disputes and disputes over family matters is of great significance in promoting the individual happiness and domestic harmony, innovating in social governance, and maintaining social stability. The courts at all levels shall further raise their awareness and effectively conduct the trial of cases regarding marriage and family disputes.
II. Profoundly grasping rules for the trial of family matters and promoting the resolution of family disputes and conflicts. The courts at all levels shall attach great importance to such characteristics of cases regarding family matters as ethicality, sensitivity, and sociality, mobilize all sectors of society, pertinently carry out the work of mediation and psychological counseling, guide the parties in building rational, peaceful, and tolerant attitude, passivate contradictions between both parties, and legally and properly resolve disputes over family matters. The areas where conditions permit shall, according to the requirements of the Supreme People's Court for the reform of the trial methods and work mechanism for disputes over family matters, actively carry out such work as joint mediation, condition survey, psychological assessment, and post-trial support, improve the trial capacity and level regarding family matters, give play to such roles of the trial of family matters as diagnosis, rehabilitation, and treatment, and make efforts to promote domestic harmony and maintain social stability.
III. Effectively performing duties according to the law and preventing the occurrence of serious incidents. Cases regarding marriage and family disputes are usually more involved with emotional benefits and personality benefits. Some parties easily have extreme emotions. Risks occur frequently in the trial of divorce cases, and the civil tribunals of the courts at all levels and the people's tribunals must attach great importance to the trial of divorce cases. By relying on the reform of the diverse dispute resolution mechanism, the roles of the pre-litigation mediation system shall be brought into full play, the lawful rights and interests of the parties shall be guaranteed according to the law, and attention shall be paid to analysis on and research into safety risks of cases. In the event that any emerging or tendentious problem is identified, preventive measures shall be taken in a timely manner, risk control responsibility and measures shall be implemented, and various measures shall be taken to strengthen the security of trial courts, so as to resolutely prevent the occurrence of such serious incidents as murder, wounding, and suicide.