elected council. The State Administrations were not subordinate to the Regions, but regional governmental offices under the Ministry for Children and Social Affairs. The state administration with its regional offices handled matters within family law, including child custody and child contact, divorce, paternity and child support cases, which often involve a high degree of conflict when parents disagree. It also handled matters such as name change, artificial fertilisation, citizenship, right of residence for EU citizens, guardianship for adults, and acted as a complaints authority for municipal decisions in building matters. Initially after the reform, effective from 1 January 2007, there were five state administrations, covering the same areas as the five regions. They were subject to the Ministry of the Interior and Health. They also acted as a complaints board for a wider range of decisions taken by municipalities, including social law. The civil servants leading each of the five state administrations had the title of state administration director. From 1 July 2013, the State Administration was organised with one central office in Aabenraa and eight regional representations. It was managed by one central State Administration director and several subordinate vice directors. Abolition While not a court, the State Administration handled over 100,000 family law cases per year. In media reports, the entity was criticized for bureaucratic handling of cases and negligence of the best interest of children. Organizations of single fathers claimed that case officers were biased and would often side with the mother, for example when unproven accusations of incest or abuse were made. A 2017 government plan proposed to abolish the State Administration and replace it with a new entity, the Family Law House (). The State Administration was abolished from 1 April 2019, and the Agency of Family Law took over a large part of the tasks of the State Administration. Ecclesiastical tasks One of the tasks of the State Administration is the technical and economic supervision of the dioceses within the Church of Denmark, along with the bishops. In this function they bear the title of stiftamtmand (literally 'diocesan governor'). While each of the five regional state administration directors were simultaneously diocesan governors, the task is now carried out by several vice directors who carry the additional title of diocesan governors. Peculiarly, since the task is purely administrative and representing the government under the Ministry for Ecclesiastical Affairs, the person does not need to be