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Bar News - April 23, 2004 Court Plan Makes Sense, as Should a Way to Fund It Editor’s Note: The following Portsmouth Herald editorial was published March 26 and is reprinted here with permission. WE CONGRATULATE Gov. Craig Benson for his support to expand the current two-county pilot project into a state family court system. However, the financials, as proposed, don’t make sense. In published reports, Benson said: "We aren’t talking about more resources, but taking the resources we have now and using them in better ways." The resources he refers to are two current openings in the Superior Court, which went down to 27 judges when Benson promoted Judge Richard Galway to the supreme Court and named Judge Robert Lynn to replace retired Superior Court Chief Justice Walter Murphy. It’s highly doubtful that either Judges Galway or Murphy would say that their previous positions were expendable. While it may be a New Hampshire tradition, robbing Peter to pay Paul is not a solution. Originally launched in 1996 in Grafton and Rockingham counties, family court, or the Family Division Pilot Program, provides a central setting to handle all family disputes involving divorce, child custody, domestic violence, juvenile delinquency, children in need of services (CHINS), abuse and neglect cases, adoptions, guardianship, and termination of parental rights. The court was designed to consolidate all family matters in a single division, and, ideally, to have a single judge preside over all cases involving the same family. It seems to be working: According to a 2000 audit, professionals involved in the court system felt that clients were better served and cases resolved more quickly through family court than in the other eight counties, where parties have to navigate through district, superior or probate courts. Certainly, many of the procedures implemented for family court could make sense for the entire system, including simpler paperwork, individual case management and defined timelines for resolving conflicts. Unfortunately, while handling disputes in family court can make difficult times easiest for children and families, family court isn’t cheap. The very nature of the cases can mean that the trials themselves can be long and complex, leading to a backlog of cases. And the rough plans outlined to pay for the expansion of family court statewide rests primarily on not filling currently vacant judicial openings. Lean and mean has its place in the business world, even in some aspects of government, but lean is not a synonym for anorexic and justice cannot be mean. In the past, legislative efforts to expand family court have failed, including a "reluctant" veto by then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen in 2000 because of the lack of funding. And that effort only suggested the system be expanded into two more counties, not across the state. Chief Justice John Broderick has already convened a panel, headed by Justice Dalianis to investigate replicating the pilot project statewide. We hope that when the panel releases its report this fall, the sensible intentions of family court are balanced by a sensible way to pay its bills. Source: The Rockingham County News (reprinted from The Portsmouth Herald).
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