Chief Judge Defends Contentious Australian Family Court Merger The chief judge of the newly created Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCA) has issued a statement reaffirming the court is more than capable of handling sensitive divorce and child custody matters, as it faces a barrage of criticism from stakeholders in the former family law system. Each year, Australians file over 106,000 new family law cases in the court system covering divorces, child custody, and property disputes, according to a PwC report (pdf). The merger of the Family Court and Federal Court into one entity, the FCFCA, is an attempt by the government to speed up the processing of family law cases which has seen some judges attempt to juggle over 600 cases at one time.