Press Releases

U.S. Government Sponsors Visit of Delaware Family Court Officials

December 21, 2005

Three American Family Court officials from the State of Delaware visited Mauritius to consult with Mauritian government officials, members of the judiciary, legal professionals, and social service providers on establishing a family court system in Mauritius.   

The U.S. Government sponsored consultative visit included Chief Judge Chandlee Johnson Kuhn, Director of Special Support Services Andrea Shaffer, and Court Administrator Randall Williams from the Delaware Family Court.  During the one week visit the delegation met with Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, Minister of Women's Rights, Child Development, Family Welfare, and Consumer Protection Indranee Seebun, and Attorney General Rama Valayden.

The Family Court of Delaware has extensive jurisdiction over all domestic relations matter, including divorce, custody, visitation, child and spousal support, and property division.  The Family Court also has jurisdiction over intrafamily misdemeanors, misdemeanor crimes against children, civil domestic violence protective orders, and over all juvenile offenses except murder, rape, and kidnapping. 

The Women’s Legal Action Watch, a non-governmental organization was the recipient of the Department of State’s Democracy and Human Right Funds and received a grant of $15,000 to carry out the consultation visit. The grant funded the cost of travel and lodging for two of the Delaware court officials as well as the printing costs of the Mauritius Family Court report.  This project, which will result in the development of a family court system in Mauritius, will help facilitate and simplify family court legal proceedings and alleviate the backlog of other cases before the Mauritius judiciary.