The Establishment of Family Courts as an Alternative to Resolving Family Cases in the Indonesian Justice System

Legal Literacy - This article explains the urgency of establishing a family court as an alternative in resolving all cases related to family matters within the Indonesian judicial and legal system.

The increasing number of family problems in Indonesia needs attention from the government. These problems are adjudicated by two courts, namely: the Religious Court and the District/General Court. These courts handle many cases other than family cases, namely general criminal cases, corruption cases, civil cases, determination of citizenship, and other cases. The large number of cases certainly adds to the court's workload, causing many people to wait their turn in the Religious Court and the District/General Court to resolve family problems in court.

Family problems in Indonesia consist of several types, including divorce, inheritance disputes, wills, grants, settlement of joint property, child adoption, mixed marriages, revocation of guardianship, and domestic violence (KDRT). All these cases are tried in the Religious Court for petitioners/plaintiffs who are Muslim and in the District/General Court for petitioners/plaintiffs who are non-Muslim.

The main issues that led to the emergence of the Family Court are the many cases of domestic violence experienced by wives/women, the obligation to provide child support from fathers who are civil servants in divorce cases, the inability to add salary deductions because this is the competence of the State Administrative Court, and cases related to the revocation of parental rights due to domestic violence or matters regulated in the Criminal Code Criminal Code, must be resolved in a criminal court first before being taken to a civil court.

The idea of establishing a Family Court as a special court in the Religious Court and the District/General Court as intended by the Legal Aid Institute of the Women's Association Indonesia for Justice (LBH APIK) and Komnas Perempuan is very interesting and also good.

Examining the data collected, Komnas Perempuan found that there are 4 (four) alternative ways to realize a Family Court in Indonesia, namely: merging civil and criminal cases to be handled by one panel, one-stop settlement of civil and criminal cases in the General Court, establishing a special court in the Religious Court, creating a special procedural law for the integrated handling of civil and criminal cases in the General Court and the Religious Court. Therefore, an alternative possible way to establish a Family Court is to establish a family court as a special court within the general court system.