February 17, 2011
Family Law New Brunswick helps hundreds of people!
In April 2010, the Family Law NB website began its first full month of operation. Over the past 10 months, thousands of people have visited the web site and hundreds of people have called the family law information line for help in navigating the family justice system.
Some stats on the Family Law NB / Droit de la famille NB Websites:
Family Law NB (English side of the site)
- The site had 14,438 visits which included 8,079 unique visitors
- There were over 72,000 page views
- Average length of time spent on the site was 5 minutes
- Almost ¾ of visitors were using Internet Explorer
- Majority of visitors referred to site from PLEIS-NB’s main site, Google and GNB.
- Top three key words searched were: family law in New Brunswick, child support, and divorce
- The most viewed/downloaded pages were: family law forms; FAQs and Self-Help Guides.
Droit de la famille NB (French side of the site)
- The site had 2,223 visits which included1,406 unique visitors
- There were close to 10,000 page views
- Average length of time spent on the site was 4 minutes
- ¾ of visitors using Internet Explorer
- Majority of visitors referred to site from PLEIS, GNB and Google
- Top three key words searched were: droit de la famille, divorce, aide juridique
- The most viewed/downloaded pages were: formulaires, publications and guides pratiques
PLEIS-NB also operates a toll-free family law line. In September 2010 a family law line information officer was hired to help educate the public on family law matters generally, and to explain family court procedures and forms in particular. Between September 2010 and January 31 2011, nearly 600 people have called the line to ask for information relating to their family matters.
Some stats on the Toll-Free Family Law Line - (1-888-236-2444):
- 540 unique callers have been helped
- Callers evenly split between male and female
- Referrals to the line were largely from court staff/FSOS and Legal Aid offices. Referrals from the website began to increase in January.
- Nearly 50% of the callers received service in French
- Almost 90% of callers asked for help with variation of a child support order (many referred by FSOS)
- Others callers wanted information in relation to their divorce petition, how to deal with an order made in another province, how to serve documents when the location of the other party was unknown, what to do if the other party was violating the court order, and how to find a lawyer who would review forms after they were filled in.
- About one-third of the callers were able to walk through the forms and procedures with the officer using the Family Law NB Website
- Callers asking for general information most often wanted publications on custody/access/child support and separation/divorce
- The majority of callers requesting information on the procedure on how to file an Application for custody/access were referred to the New Brunswick Family Mediation Service and/or Legal Aid services of New Brunswick. Only a few callers wanted to start an application for custody and access themselves.
