01151997 - News Article - Family court bill faces first hurdle

Family court bill faces first hurdle
NWI Times
Jan 15, 1997
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/family-court-bill-faces-first-hurdle/article_b5894c58-9d93-5f64-bfc7-81ea8e016bc7.html
About the bill Preliminary family court legislation would:
* Establish a voluntary pilot project.
* Operate Jan. 1, 1998 through Dec. 31, 1999.
* Grant funds to the counties selected to participate.
* Consist of one rural, one medium-size and one urban county.
* Requires applicants to submit plans by Sept. 30.

Although concerned about funding, four of Porter County's six judges support the concept of family court legislation being heard today before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The legislation provides for the establishment of three family court systems of varying size for a period of two years.

The pilot program would explore the feasibility of such court restructuring in Indiana, where no true unified family court system exists.

The innovation is an alternative to present court systems, where increasingly families in crisis have members in several courts at the same time.

Under a family court structure, cases involving family matters will be heard by the same judge.

According to state Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard, the legislation is a response by the Commission on Courts to the high interest lawmakers have shown in the concept.

"This will show people how it can work in an Indiana setting," Shepard said last month.

"My proposal was that the ideal way of exploring these issues was to create a pilot project to try techniques in a variety of settings and examine the advantages and disadvantages," Shepard said.

Sen. William Alexa, D-Valparaiso, a sponsor of the resulting legislation, said he believes Porter County is a good candidate for the pilot program.

Alexa, who has sponsored multiple pieces of legislation designed to combat domestic violence and related issues, sees the project as a way for courts to handle family matters in a less adversarial way.

The adversarial system used by the court system, according to Alexa, is "ill-equipped to handle domestic cases."

Should the bill pass the legislature, it will be up to a county's judges to make an application.

Alexa said he forwarded information on the pending legislation to all six of the county's judges.

Porter Superior Court Judges Roger Bradford, the court's senior judge, and Thomas Webber expressed interest in the project, according to Alexa.

While Bradford and Webber refused to comment, Porter Superior Court Judge Nancy Vaidik said the judges have not held their regular monthly meeting where the issue usually would be discussed.

"I'm interested in it as well," Vaidik said, "but I am concerned that the funding is so low."

Aside from funding concerns, Vaidik said, "This will take brainstorming and innovative thinking in order to develop a system for Porter County, and (it will take) the cooperation of all the judges."

The current proposal allocates $150,000 to the project, which breaks out to only $25,000 per county each year of the project.

"That concerns me when you're talking about reorganizing a system and adding officiating officers and court personnel," Vaidik said.

Alexa, however, said funding may well be restored to its original $300,000 or even better during today's committee hearing.

"We may just bump that up," Alexa said. "It's a reach and grab figure. No one knows how much they may need to set up this demonstration."

While the legislature will not write "a blank check," according to Alexa, the funding can be modified according to a county's needs.

Should the bill survive today's hearing as he expects, the bill moves to the Senate Finance Committee, Alexa said.

The family court concept is also supported by Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper, Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Thode, and newly appointed Superior Court Judge Julia Jent, who will be sworn in Monday.

"If the legislature can give us a model or set some parameters within which we can develop a model ... it's important for us to see if it's workable in Porter County," Harper said.

Harper, as circuit and juvenile court judge, would be the most likely judge to assume family court jurisdiction.

"I'd be real willing to help," said Harper, who took the circuit court bench only this month. "We're looking at a lot of new things.

"If Porter County were interested, we'd work with the legislation," Thode said. "I'm in favor of any additional tools to simplify the process and streamline the litigation process."

"It would really require our judges to sit down and come up with implementation procedures," Thode said, adding the caseload could well require the services of more than one judge.

Thode also believed, however, a family court structure might not be necessary if the county's computerized case management system helps judges track an individual's involvement in other courts.

The county is investigating computer software for such a system, which is expected to improve much of the court's current communication problems.

Jent, meanwhile, said the family court legislation holds a lot of appeal for her, but "the funding is ridiculous even for a pilot program."