A former chief justice of the Family Court has accused the Turnbull government of "vandalism" over its decision to fold the court into a new entity and phase out the specialist family law division.

Alastair Nicholson, who led the court from 1988 to 2004, joined women's legal specialists in warning the move could put women and children in danger by giving power over to ill-experienced judges.

"It’s really the end [point] of an insidious campaign to undermine the family court system," he told Fairfax Media. "It’s an act of vandalism which has been perpetrated by the government."

"It's an act of vandalism": former Family Court chief justice Alastair Nicholson. Credit:Penny Stephens

Attorney-General Christian Porter this week announced plans to merge the Family Court with the Federal Circuit Court, and to phase out the new entity's specialist family law division.