MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON FAMILY LAW IN KENYA

Abstract

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has tragically unmasked the fragility of all systems and structures globally. It has proved that the gains of thousands of years are just one pandemic away from dismantlement. The pandemic has exposed the volatility of economies, governments, employment, transportation, education, healthcare among other sectors in the current civilisation. Predictably, the legal field has not been spared by the grip of the pandemic. Most notable is the closure of court houses in light of the social-distancing regulations, the emergence of new criminal offences developed to enforce compliance of COVID-19 regulations, the expansion of human rights law with regard to the limitation of certain rights, among others. These changes have had immeasurable implications to the justice system and legal practitioners alike. In Kenya, mitigating measures such as online court sessions and legal filing have been resorted to. These have however been coupled with a myriad of challenges. Nonetheless, the impact is louder in some areas of law more than others. As the effects of the pandemic on contact law, employment law and other public law matters are widely discussed, areas of private law such as the current marriage regulations amidst the pandemic, shared custody and visitation rights of children, international adoptions, the operation of domestic violence restraining orders in times of quarantine among other such issues seem to be left out of the discussions. To this end, this paper specifically probes the reality of these private law issues in times of COVID-19. It discusses the effects that the pandemic has had on specific areas of family law in Kenya in view of the changes occasioned by the pandemic and suggests a way forward.