Recently, a family court was added to Daviess County to hear cases involving Divorce, Child Custody, Visitation, Child Support, Adoption, Abuse and Neglect cases, and other family related cases. This is a drastic change from our previous system wherein two Domestic Relations Commissioners would hear cases in Circuit Court, two Circuit Judges would hear cases, and three District Court Judges heard child support, and abuse and neglect cases. Now instead of seven possible persons seeing a family for these cases, families will see one judge who will be familiar will all of the ongoing issues with the family. There are many other changes that this change in the system causes that you should know.
Family court will ultimately be a great thing for Daviess County. Access to justice is increased because clients no longer have to pay $60 per hour for hearings. No longer will clients have to file motions and ask multiple courts for relief, and people won't be as able to abuse the system by moving from one court to another to get different outcomes.
The new court comes with challenges also. We have only been allowed one judge to handle the load for what was seven persons jobs. Adoptions, Abuse and Neglect, child support, divorce, visitation, domestic violence, paternity, and many more are all now in the Family Court. That means it could take longer to get to final hearings, and some very long days in court at times.
Another change is that in the past, if there was a decision by a commissioner that a client disagreed with for legal cause, exceptions could be filed and a local circuit judge would review the case. This was relatively inexpensive and quick to accomplish. The Family Court is a circuit court, and as such, you must appeal to the court of appeals if your disagree with the court's ruling. This is often a very lengthy and expensive process. The good news is that the system gives people many opportunities to settle or come to a resolution everyone can live with. After all, at that point, the parties still have some control over the outcome. If you can't come to a resolution, you leave it in someone else's hands- the Judge. No one will be completely satisfied with that situation usually.
The new court in Daviess County is focusing on keeping families working together, even in divorce and tense relationships. The Court is assisting persons with resources and classes to assist parents and parties to work through problem issues. It's not just a here's your order move along system anymore.
With a new court comes new procedures and family court rules in place. It can be easy to get lost trying to file things on your own and getting frustrated when you get nowhere because you didn't follow the right rules. So contact us and we will make sure you have the right paperwork to get it right the first time.