Domestic Relations Work Group

June 9, 2000

DRC Evolution

Judge Kennedy opened the meeting reviewing the evolution of the Domestic Relations Committee(DRC)/Work Group. Originally designated a commission when convened in 1996, with the 2000 restructuring of the Board for Judicial Administration (BJA), the former commission is now a permanent subcommittee serving at the direction of the BJA. Specifically with regard to BJA's "Project 2001", the committee has been designated as the Domestic Relations "work group" and in that capacity given three charges. At the conclusion of Project 2001, the DRC retains its status as a BJA subcommittee.

Project 2001

Project 2001 is the judiciary's response to court reform legislation introduced (but not passed) during the 2000 legislative session. Judge Kennedy reviewed the profiles of the workgroups comprising Project 2001 and the Project's timeline. In addition to the Domestic Relations Work Group, the project has workgroups in the following areas: Case Management; Jurisdiction and Portability; Trial Court Administration; and Unenforced Warrants. Pursuant to the timeline, the DRC/work group final report to the Project oversight committee is due October 1.

Work Group Charges

The Domestic Relations Work Group has been given three charges.

• Assess current Washington models for consolidating domestic (including domestic violence) and juvenile offender and dependency cases, and identify specific components for success. Review operations of the legislatively-funded Unified Family Court demonstration projects in Thurston, King and Snohomish Counties. Identify the essential components of a Unified Family Court and recommend a desired implementation strategy for the state; estimate financial impact and responsibility for implementation. Develop proposed legislation/court rules to implement recommendations, together with an explanatory report summarizing findings/recommendations.
• Assess current Washington courthouse facilitator models and identify specific components for success. Recommend a desired implementation strategy for the state. Estimate financial impact and responsibility for implementation. Recommend specific legislation/court rules to implement recommendations, together with an explanatory report summarizing findings/recommendations.
• Review the complete study of the Washington Parenting Act, recently completed by Dr. Diane Lye for the Washington State Supreme Court Gender and Justice and Domestic Relations Commissions. Recommend specific legislation and/or court rules in response to the parenting study performed by Dr. Lye for the Washington State Supreme Court Gender and Justice and Domestic Relations Commissions.

For proposed legislation, the focus should be on what can be presented that has a chance to pass in the 2001 session. Work groups should consider: How can courts provide services more efficiently, taking into consideration: (1) economic changes; (2) technological changes; and (3) changes in public expectations.

Judge Kennedy reported that some of the charges may require more study than that which is afforded by the Project 2001 timeframe. If so, the report should indicate such. Projects identified as requiring more time for research and/or development will be compiled for use as a long range planning "queue" for future BJA and/or DRC projects.

Judge Kennedy added that the legislature has indicated a receptiveness to the project to the extent realist expectations are provided. Senator Long is a member of the work group and Senator Costa and Representative Lambert have expressed an interest in supporting legislation proposed by the work group.

Courthouse Facilitators

Janet Skreen, OAC staff assigned to the Courthouse Facilitator task group, identified other groups who are currently addressing the same issue.
Pro Se Conference - Last fall at the request of Chief Justice Guy, she lead a contingent from the state of Washington attending a conference on pro se litigants. The "action plan" developed by the Washington state "team" attending the conference, provides for the creation of courthouse facilitator programs in every county courthouse in Washington State.
Access to Justice/Domestic Relations Task Force - How pro se's get through the system has been a significant focus of the ATJ/Domestic Relations Task Force. Courthouse facilitator programs are a key component when addressing the issue.
Project 2001/Case Management Work Group - For their focus on courthouse facilitator programs, the Case Management Work Group is primarily interested in program expansion beyond family law and program financial support.

Unified Family Courts (UFC)

Justice Bridge informed of the current models of UFC in Washington State. While Snohomish and King Counties have limited programs, not fully involving all areas of juvenile and family law, Thurston County has the purest approach where all family and juvenile law related cases are heard at the county's new family and juvenile court building. "One judge/one family" is a basic tenet of UFC, though for many courts, this concept has been revised to "One judicial team/one family". Smaller rural courts have UFC by default. Clallam County Superior Court and specifically Court Commissioner Bill Knebes were identified as an excellent example of this. King County conducted a study of its UFC program and that study, in conjunction with the national research done prior to its implementation, as well as the information collected by the Thurston County and Snohomish County programs will provide a wealth of reference information for the task group. The most difficult information to collect will be that related to the financial aspects of UFC. In response to Doug Becker's concerns with regard to which UFC components would be implemented in each superior court, Justice Bridge commented that one of the first things learned when developing the King County UFC project, is that UFC is not a "one size fits all" proposition.

Parenting Act Study

Because of it being the primary focus of past DRC meetings, there was only limited discussion of the Parenting Act Study.

Next Steps

Due to the short time frame for accomplishing the assigned charges, Judge Kennedy elected to subdivide the workgroup into three task groups, with each being assigned one of the three charges. Work group members in attendance selected which of the task groups on which they desired to serve, with Judge Kennedy making the selection for those not in attendance who, prior to the meeting, had not indicated a preference.

Chairs of the task groups are: UFC - Justice Bridge; Parenting Act Study - Judge Appelwick; and Courthouse Facilitators (tentatively Judge O'Connor).

Unless otherwise arranged, all meetings are taking place at the OAC conference room located in Suite 1606 of Two Union Square in downtown Seattle. Tentative meeting dates for the task groups are as follows: Unified Family Court, July 10/11; Courthouse Facilitators, August 7/8; and Parenting Act Study, August 17/18 (NOTE: the Parenting Act task group met subsequent to the work group meeting and scheduled an additional meeting for July 7.)

A full Work Group meeting is tentatively scheduled for August 28 at OAC/Two Union Square. The time for the meeting has not been set.

Meeting adjourned

Members:

Members:

Members: