Sovereign citizens: ‘Fringe cult-like group’ poses threat to family courts

A leading law expert has warned of “dangerous consequences” when sovereign citizens – who believe the law doesn’t apply to them – state they’re not bound by family court orders.

Southern Cross University’s Dean of Law and ex-magistrate David Heilpern at SCU’s Coolangatta campus. Picture: Glenn Hampson

A leading law expert has warned of “dangerous consequences” when sovereign citizens – who believe the law doesn’t apply to them – state they’re not bound by family court orders.

Southern Cross University’s Dean of Law and ex-magistrate David Heilpern says there is a clash between the ideology of sovereign citizens and the Family Law Court — and it’s not just about the safety of women and children.

“The only judges ever to be killed in Australia have been family court judges,” he said.

“The history of the sovereign citizens movement has a fringe and that fringe (can be) violent.

Family law court cases, already emotionally charged, can become dangerous battlegrounds for sovereign citizen ideologies, Heilpern says. Picture: Generic/stock.

“Sovereign citizens believe the law doesn’t apply to them — that judges are acting unlawfully and are taking their children without any legal justification.

“From there it’s a very small jump towards taking the law into their own hands.”

Mr Heilpern said family law court judges around the country were seeing an increase in sovereign citizens arguing that court orders do not apply to them.

“For example, there are women facing a situation where a husband is now claiming they are a sovereign citizen so they don’t have to return children.”

Heilpern said some people dabble in sovereign citizen arguments but the history of the movement has a “violent fringe”. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Mr Heilpern said sovereign citizens were following an ideology that is “complete make-believe” but despite being “cult-like there’s no cult leader”, making them “very disparate and therefore unpredictable”.

While sovereign citizens never succeed in court, the movement is a growing concern not only for Australia’s legal system but for legal systems around the world.

Those concerns will be captured in a soon-to-be-released book — Pseudolaw and Sovereign Citizens and includes a chapter by Mr Heilpern.

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Originally published as Sovereign citizens: ‘Fringe cult-like group’ poses threat to family courts