Disclaimer: BS Kids LLC legal research and information has been prepared for educational and informational purposes only. This material is not
legal advice or legal opinions on any specific matters. Transmission of the information is not intended to create and receipt does not constitute a
lawyer-client relationship between BS Kids LLC , the author of the information and any other legal publisher. Customers of BS Kids should not act
upon this information without seeking professional counsel. The opinions expressed in the material presented to BS Kids clientele is based on
information found in legal publications. BS Kids LLC, 6 Mackinac Court, Pooler, Ga. 31322 (912) 988-1001 or 781-756-1214.
legal advice or legal opinions on any specific matters. Transmission of the information is not intended to create and receipt does not constitute a
lawyer-client relationship between BS Kids LLC , the author of the information and any other legal publisher. Customers of BS Kids should not act
upon this information without seeking professional counsel. The opinions expressed in the material presented to BS Kids clientele is based on
information found in legal publications. BS Kids LLC, 6 Mackinac Court, Pooler, Ga. 31322 (912) 988-1001 or 781-756-1214.
A Child Advocacy Company
Bringing Support to Parents
Building Strength to Children
Bringing Support to Parents
Building Strength to Children
News
Justice delayed
By Annmarie Timmins
Marital Master Deborah Kane Rein has 16 divorce or custody cases awaiting resolution at the Concord
family court. She knows each is an urgent matter to a family in crisis.
A mom doesn't want her 7-year-old visiting his imprisoned father. A man says his ex-wife is not paying
taxes on the home they still own together. A woman is accused of leaving her child with an underage
babysitter. Rein also knows some of those families will wait at least two months before they get her orders
because state budget cuts have eliminated the judges and clerical staff needed to move cases faster.
What she doesn't know is how long is too long to wait.
"If you don't find a method by which they can work out some of their disputes, (the disputes) are going to
get worse," Rein said.
"For some of them, it's the worst time of their entire life."
Judicial officials say stories like this are playing out in courts across the state because continual budget
cuts have left the entire court system, from district court on up, perilously understaffed and unable to keep
up with the nearly 230,000 cases filed each year.
That's dire, court officials say, given all the ways that the courts touch people's lives, from landlord-tenant
disputes, domestic violence cases and divorces to juvenile crime, major business disagreements and
murder trials.
"Courts are essential to commerce as well as civility," said Chief Justice John Broderick, who fought budget
cuts at the State House this year. "There needs to be access to the courts. There needs to be rules of the
road. We need to be capable of giving answers in a timely manner. It is fundamental, to who we are as a
nation, and either we don't value that anymore or we need to fund it." Right now, the state is far short of
funding it, Broderick and others working in the courts said in recent interviews. In fact, a group of lawyers
has begun to talk about suing the state for under-funding the courts; they are meeting later this month to
decide how to proceed.
As part of statewide cuts to all branches of government, the Legislature has cut $10.5 million from the
judicial branch's budget in the last four years, said Laura Kiernan, court spokeswoman. The annual judicial
budget stands at $76.1 million for 2010 and $74.1 million for 2011, according to Kiernan.
As a result of the cuts, the courts have been unable to fill nearly 60 clerical jobs, about 10 percent of the
non-judicial staff, or to replace 10 retired judges - five in the district court, four in the superior court and
one in the probate court. And gone are the retired judges who were filling in part time because there is no
more money to pay them. In short, that's left far fewer people to handle an increasing number of cases
filed each year, court clerks and judges said.
Budget cuts have forced Broderick to close all the state's courts about once a month. More recently, the
judicial branch announced it was eliminating about three months of civil jury trials in superior courts and 20
percent of court sessions in district and family courts.
As a result, civil cases are being bumped a year or more to make room for criminal cases, which must be
heard by deadlines that ensure speedy trials. That means most civil lawsuits - those brought by patients
disputing medical treatment or accident victims seeking compensation, for example - won't reach a jury
until next summer at the earliest.
"With civil cases, we are not saying we will never get them scheduled," said Judge Robert Lynn, head of
the state's superior courts, which handle the more serious criminal and civil cases. "But it is certainly true
that for the next year, it will be rare to get a civil jury trial." But even giving criminal cases priority isn't
protection enough, several defense lawyers said. They predict it won't be long before a dangerous felon is
freed because an overbooked court couldn't get to him in time.
The money problems plaguing superior court are also hitting the district courts, the busiest courts in the
state, said Judge Edwin Kelly, chief of the district and family courts. District courts, which handle
misdemeanor offenses, traffic violations, stalking cases, smaller civil claims and juvenile matters, handle 83
percent of all the cases filed in the state each year, Kelly said.
Criminal cases, landlord-tenant disputes and domestic violence cases are still being heard in a timely way
because state law sets strict deadlines in those cases. But a shortage of five judges statewide and fewer
court sessions are making it nearly impossible for people to pursue small claims cases, those everyday
disputes over car crashes, property damage and unpaid bills.
"The word is spreading quickly," Kelly said. Small claim defendants "are not quite so anxious to come up
with the money (they owe) if they know their case won't get into court." Kelly said the state's courts are the
most strapped he's seen in his 20 years as an administrative judge - "and we've seen some tough times."
But so far, there has been no public outcry or objection to the court slowdowns.
Broderick said he wonders if it will take a felon freed on a technicality who then commits a high-profile
crime for the public to appreciate what it's losing in a diminished court system. He pointed to the state
Constitution, which guarantees a person the right to prompt justice in all matters, not just criminal cases.
"The fear I have is that we are not fulfilling that promise," Broderick said. "It's not a promise that I made or I
wrote or even one that I get to vote on. It's in a document from 1784. Every day that passes, I wonder more
and more if we are meeting it."
Family court
A judge must review and sign off on every decision a marital master makes, whether it's a decision to
continue a hearing in a divorce or a choice of which parent will have primary custody. Without a full-time
family court judge in Concord, that second signature has become harder to find for pressing issues.
Sometimes it means a clerk in Concord must drive a case file to an available judge in the Henniker or
Franklin family courts, said LoriAnne Dionne, clerk of the four family courts in the county. Some paperwork
can be faxed, she said, but a file that's an inch-thick can't.
The family court hears not only divorces and custody disputes but also domestic violence petitions,
guardianship cases and matters where children need emergency services. Many of those are emergency
matters that must be heard with a short timeframe established by law. But those who work in the court have
come to realize even "non-emergency" cases can be emergencies.
"We have to prioritize cases," said Judge Kelly, who oversees family courts as well as the district courts.
"Some people may think that whether someone gets $50 a week in child support or needs it increased to
$65 isn't a big deal. I have news for you: That's a big deal for a lot of people."
It can be even more difficult in Hooksett, Dionne said, which has a family court judge every other Thursday.
Rein is the only marital master in the Concord family court, which shares a building with the district court.
She's on the bench hearing divorce, parenting and custody cases mornings and afternoons. As the marital
master on a case, she is responsible for reviewing the case's history and determining the best course for
each case, work that keeps her after court and busy one day a weekend.
It then takes the court's small transcription team two or three days to get a written version back to her. Add
a few more days for family court Judge Edward Tenney to review and sign it because he's in Concord just
three days a week. (He's in Manchester the other two days.) When Tenney arrives on a Wednesday, for
example, there can be 40 cases waiting for him. But even then the decisions aren't on their way to the
families needing them. It takes the clerk's office, which is working with vacancies, another two or three
weeks to docket the orders in the case files and mail them out.It went faster, Rein said, when there was a
second family court judge, but budget cuts prevented the court from filling that position. The backlog is
stressful for the staff but more so for the families depending on the court, she said.
"What we do is so different here," Rein said. "We are giving families rules to live by at the worst time in
their lives. Rules for the kids and the adults. Healthy relationships are the goals, and the answers aren't so
easy." Attorney Honey Hastings of Wilton has been doing family cases for 28 years and encourages her
clients to resolve divorces, child support and custody disputes through mediation, outside the courtroom.
That way, when they go before a marital master, they are largely resolved. "The real problem is that it
takes so long to get a decision if you have to go to court," Hastings said. "I found it so miserable for the
families." Waiting two months or longer to learn where a child will spend weekends or how much a father
will pay toward child support is too long, she said. And it's another long wait if the family has to come back
to court because the father isn't paying the support or the child custody isn't being shared."I think it will
have social implications to have these disputes simmering too long," Hastings said. "I worry about the kids
in these cases."
By Annmarie Timmins
Marital Master Deborah Kane Rein has 16 divorce or custody cases awaiting resolution at the Concord
family court. She knows each is an urgent matter to a family in crisis.
A mom doesn't want her 7-year-old visiting his imprisoned father. A man says his ex-wife is not paying
taxes on the home they still own together. A woman is accused of leaving her child with an underage
babysitter. Rein also knows some of those families will wait at least two months before they get her orders
because state budget cuts have eliminated the judges and clerical staff needed to move cases faster.
What she doesn't know is how long is too long to wait.
"If you don't find a method by which they can work out some of their disputes, (the disputes) are going to
get worse," Rein said.
"For some of them, it's the worst time of their entire life."
Judicial officials say stories like this are playing out in courts across the state because continual budget
cuts have left the entire court system, from district court on up, perilously understaffed and unable to keep
up with the nearly 230,000 cases filed each year.
That's dire, court officials say, given all the ways that the courts touch people's lives, from landlord-tenant
disputes, domestic violence cases and divorces to juvenile crime, major business disagreements and
murder trials.
"Courts are essential to commerce as well as civility," said Chief Justice John Broderick, who fought budget
cuts at the State House this year. "There needs to be access to the courts. There needs to be rules of the
road. We need to be capable of giving answers in a timely manner. It is fundamental, to who we are as a
nation, and either we don't value that anymore or we need to fund it." Right now, the state is far short of
funding it, Broderick and others working in the courts said in recent interviews. In fact, a group of lawyers
has begun to talk about suing the state for under-funding the courts; they are meeting later this month to
decide how to proceed.
As part of statewide cuts to all branches of government, the Legislature has cut $10.5 million from the
judicial branch's budget in the last four years, said Laura Kiernan, court spokeswoman. The annual judicial
budget stands at $76.1 million for 2010 and $74.1 million for 2011, according to Kiernan.
As a result of the cuts, the courts have been unable to fill nearly 60 clerical jobs, about 10 percent of the
non-judicial staff, or to replace 10 retired judges - five in the district court, four in the superior court and
one in the probate court. And gone are the retired judges who were filling in part time because there is no
more money to pay them. In short, that's left far fewer people to handle an increasing number of cases
filed each year, court clerks and judges said.
Budget cuts have forced Broderick to close all the state's courts about once a month. More recently, the
judicial branch announced it was eliminating about three months of civil jury trials in superior courts and 20
percent of court sessions in district and family courts.
As a result, civil cases are being bumped a year or more to make room for criminal cases, which must be
heard by deadlines that ensure speedy trials. That means most civil lawsuits - those brought by patients
disputing medical treatment or accident victims seeking compensation, for example - won't reach a jury
until next summer at the earliest.
"With civil cases, we are not saying we will never get them scheduled," said Judge Robert Lynn, head of
the state's superior courts, which handle the more serious criminal and civil cases. "But it is certainly true
that for the next year, it will be rare to get a civil jury trial." But even giving criminal cases priority isn't
protection enough, several defense lawyers said. They predict it won't be long before a dangerous felon is
freed because an overbooked court couldn't get to him in time.
The money problems plaguing superior court are also hitting the district courts, the busiest courts in the
state, said Judge Edwin Kelly, chief of the district and family courts. District courts, which handle
misdemeanor offenses, traffic violations, stalking cases, smaller civil claims and juvenile matters, handle 83
percent of all the cases filed in the state each year, Kelly said.
Criminal cases, landlord-tenant disputes and domestic violence cases are still being heard in a timely way
because state law sets strict deadlines in those cases. But a shortage of five judges statewide and fewer
court sessions are making it nearly impossible for people to pursue small claims cases, those everyday
disputes over car crashes, property damage and unpaid bills.
"The word is spreading quickly," Kelly said. Small claim defendants "are not quite so anxious to come up
with the money (they owe) if they know their case won't get into court." Kelly said the state's courts are the
most strapped he's seen in his 20 years as an administrative judge - "and we've seen some tough times."
But so far, there has been no public outcry or objection to the court slowdowns.
Broderick said he wonders if it will take a felon freed on a technicality who then commits a high-profile
crime for the public to appreciate what it's losing in a diminished court system. He pointed to the state
Constitution, which guarantees a person the right to prompt justice in all matters, not just criminal cases.
"The fear I have is that we are not fulfilling that promise," Broderick said. "It's not a promise that I made or I
wrote or even one that I get to vote on. It's in a document from 1784. Every day that passes, I wonder more
and more if we are meeting it."
Family court
A judge must review and sign off on every decision a marital master makes, whether it's a decision to
continue a hearing in a divorce or a choice of which parent will have primary custody. Without a full-time
family court judge in Concord, that second signature has become harder to find for pressing issues.
Sometimes it means a clerk in Concord must drive a case file to an available judge in the Henniker or
Franklin family courts, said LoriAnne Dionne, clerk of the four family courts in the county. Some paperwork
can be faxed, she said, but a file that's an inch-thick can't.
The family court hears not only divorces and custody disputes but also domestic violence petitions,
guardianship cases and matters where children need emergency services. Many of those are emergency
matters that must be heard with a short timeframe established by law. But those who work in the court have
come to realize even "non-emergency" cases can be emergencies.
"We have to prioritize cases," said Judge Kelly, who oversees family courts as well as the district courts.
"Some people may think that whether someone gets $50 a week in child support or needs it increased to
$65 isn't a big deal. I have news for you: That's a big deal for a lot of people."
It can be even more difficult in Hooksett, Dionne said, which has a family court judge every other Thursday.
Rein is the only marital master in the Concord family court, which shares a building with the district court.
She's on the bench hearing divorce, parenting and custody cases mornings and afternoons. As the marital
master on a case, she is responsible for reviewing the case's history and determining the best course for
each case, work that keeps her after court and busy one day a weekend.
It then takes the court's small transcription team two or three days to get a written version back to her. Add
a few more days for family court Judge Edward Tenney to review and sign it because he's in Concord just
three days a week. (He's in Manchester the other two days.) When Tenney arrives on a Wednesday, for
example, there can be 40 cases waiting for him. But even then the decisions aren't on their way to the
families needing them. It takes the clerk's office, which is working with vacancies, another two or three
weeks to docket the orders in the case files and mail them out.It went faster, Rein said, when there was a
second family court judge, but budget cuts prevented the court from filling that position. The backlog is
stressful for the staff but more so for the families depending on the court, she said.
"What we do is so different here," Rein said. "We are giving families rules to live by at the worst time in
their lives. Rules for the kids and the adults. Healthy relationships are the goals, and the answers aren't so
easy." Attorney Honey Hastings of Wilton has been doing family cases for 28 years and encourages her
clients to resolve divorces, child support and custody disputes through mediation, outside the courtroom.
That way, when they go before a marital master, they are largely resolved. "The real problem is that it
takes so long to get a decision if you have to go to court," Hastings said. "I found it so miserable for the
families." Waiting two months or longer to learn where a child will spend weekends or how much a father
will pay toward child support is too long, she said. And it's another long wait if the family has to come back
to court because the father isn't paying the support or the child custody isn't being shared."I think it will
have social implications to have these disputes simmering too long," Hastings said. "I worry about the kids
in these cases."
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |