Playing a new role in the Family Division in Rockingham County will be attorney Brian D. Kenyon, formerly a deputy clerk in the Superior Court, who has been appointed as the state's first child support referee.

The referee is a fact finder who will hear child support and paternity cases and make recommendations, as marital masters do, to judges who can issue them as orders. Attorney Gina Apicelli, a Family Division administrator, said the referee won't wear a robe, and will operate in a less formal manner than masters. "He will operate in more of a conference room setting, assisting the parties in reaching an agreement, but, if they are unable to agree, he will review the evidence and make a recommendation to the court." Apicelli said an introductory "script" is being developed to ensure that parties understand the referee is not a mediator, but someone who has the authority to recommend a determination on child support.

The creation of the position of referee is an attempt to expedite the processing of matters relating to child support and paternity, and, it is hoped, reduce the acrimony and financial uncertainty that results when such decisions are caught up in the judicial machinery.

The position - as well as an additional case manager and two support personnel - will be largely federally funded under the "IV-D" program to enhance child support collection, the same program that provides most of the funding for the marital masters.

The additional resources were made possible by the approval on May 4 by the Governor and Executive Council of a cooperative agreement between the NH Department of Health and Human Services and the Administrative Office of the Courts. To obtain federal money, the courts must demonstrate that the non-judicial employees are working on matters directly relating to child support. The agreement also is considered a pilot project and calls for periodic evaluation of its effectiveness and impact.

"It is anticipated that this pilot program will produce greater efficiencies in the Court's processing of IV-D cases and reduce the time period between initial filing of pleadings and temporary and/or final disposition of IV-D issues," the cooperative agreement said.

Kenyon was appointed to the post under the authority of the Superior Court, but he will be serving in the Family Division, pursuant to a new Family Division rule.

Apicelli said that by the end of May, she anticipates that Kenyon will be meeting with litigants to review requests for modifications or bring-forwards of existing child support orders, or the initial establishment of child support in cases where the state is involved. Eventually, the referee could be brought in to review establishment of a child support order in a new divorce, if it is possible to separate the child support issue from child custody, visitation and other divorce issues.

Apicelli said the Family Division is eager to put Kenyon to work hearing cases, but administrators are proceeding carefully so that they don't overload him with cases and inadvertently slow down the process. She said Kenyon will work with litigants to educate them on the application of the guidelines and seek to obtain agreement from the parties on necessary changes, while at the same making it clear that if no agreement is reached, it is the referee's responsibility to make a recommendation to the court. She said the Family Division wants to ensure that parties are not misled into believing that the referee is a mediator and not a fact-finder.

Apicelli said the Family Division will be very interested in obtaining comments from the family law bar in Rockingham County on how the referee can help dispose of cases involving child support that are not entangled with other domestic relations issues, and she hopes to establish a vehicle for such input in the near future.

The creation of child support referees was among the recommendations in the Family Law Task Force report issued in November. Nina Gardner, the Task Force chair and executive director of the NH Judicial Council, said the referee position is not a new one - she had seen such a position employed in the courts in Rhode Island more than 10 years ago.

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