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

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.