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Bar News - September 9, 2005

Court’s Corner: Sullivan County Family Division Starts Up Sept. 12 at 2 Locations

The Honorable Edwin W. Kelly, Administrative Judge of the Family Division, has announced a startup date for the first Family Division locations since the passage of HB 2 that authorized the expansion of the Family Division across the state. Two Family Division locations will open at the Newport and Claremont district courthouses in Sullivan County on September 12, 2005. Each site will operate in existing district court buildings in the county.

“This represents the beginning of what will be the largest and most exciting change to occur in the Judicial Branch in decades,” Judge Kelly said. “We look forward to providing efficient and sensitive services to people living in these communities who are facing difficult and challenging times in their lives.”

“We are very fortunate to have judges who are familiar with the two communities, the surrounding towns, and the courts there—and a marital master who is experienced in the range of cases currently heard in the marital department of the Sullivan County Superior Court,” said Gina Apicelli, Administrator of the Family Division for the state. “Judge Jack Yazinski, who sits in Claremont on civil and criminal matters, will now take on family matters for that community, too. Judge Bruce Cardello will continue to hear civil and criminal matters in Newport and take on the family division responsibilities there.”

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Rounding out the Sullivan County judicial offices will be Marital Master David Forrest, currently of the Superior Court. Both Judge Yazinski and Judge Cardello have been family division judges, and Master Forrest has presided at the Sullivan Superior Court, hearing marital cases. “This team will provide a great deal of expertise and continuity for the various towns in Sullivan County as they transition to the new Family Division locations,” said Apicelli.

These judicial officers and the communities will be supported by court staff from the Sullivan County courts that is familiar with the attorneys, the police, DCYF, the JPPOs, and other service organizations who are already working in the Sullivan County courts. In addition, the staff will be cross-trained in all family law areas the family division addresses: divorce, custody, child support, domestic violence, guardianships, termination of parental rights, abuse/neglect cases, CHINS, delinquencies, and some adoptions. “The importance of cross-training the staff cannot be underestimated for the Family Division concept of one family—one judge to have maximum benefit,” Apicelli explained.

Contemporaneous with the opening of the Family Division locations in Sullivan County is a major statutory change that impacts the practice of family law in every New Hampshire county. On October 1, RSA 461-A will allow judges to order mediation even when one or both parties will not agree voluntarily. This change was initiated chiefly to deal with children’s issues, since the welfare of the children is often the one issue opposing parties will sit down to talk about in mediation. “Children’s issues are often the common bond that will bring people to the mediation table,” said Apicelli, “and if other matters need attention—such as who keeps the house or who will pay the credit card debt—they may also be dealt with during the mediation, perhaps in a less adversarial atmosphere than that provided in a courtroom setting.”

A further statutory requirement going into effect this fall is that which requires parents to prepare a detailed parenting plan outlining their parenting rights and responsibilities and their parenting time schedules with their children. “The Family Division is excited about both of these provisions, as they signal significant changes in the way parenting disputes are addressed in our courts,” said Apicelli. “We look forward to implementing these changes, and other suggestions from the Findings and Recommendations of the Family Law Task Force, in our existing Family Division counties of Grafton and Rockingham, as well as in Sullivan County.”

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