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Feb
26
Avoiding Court Hearings Part of New Lake Co. Indiana Family Law Rules
Filed Under Lake County Courts
Avoiding unnecessary motions and hearings is another goal of the Lake County Family Law rules, according to its commentary for L.R.45-F.L.00-3.
“Attorneys must change their primary focus in family cases,” states the commentary.
“Instead of gathering evidence or other ‘case building,’ the attorney’s primary focus must be on defusing the underlying source(s) of conflict(s) by helping the family to find the ways to reach resolution of their issues by using means which are less destructive than litigation.” See Commentary, L.R.45-F.L.00-3.
As a part of their duty to work as co-problem-solvers with the court in all family cases, if safe to do so, attorneys should:
(1) speak with all clients, as early as possible and as often as necessary, about the advantages and judicial expectations of safe cooperation in family cases;
(2) refer clients to all co-parenting classes, counseling, mediation, and other problem-solving processes that appear to counsel to be promising resources for their clients;
(3) work with other counsel to ensure safety in families where domestic violence has been, or reasonably could be, an issue;
(4) work with other counsel in all cases to reduce conflict, build cooperation, and protect children;
(5) avoid unnecessary motions and hearings; and
(6) use the least divisive processes in pursuing safety, fairness, cooperation, and the protection of the best interests of children …
Comments
2 Responses to “Avoiding Court Hearings Part of New Lake Co. Indiana Family Law Rules”
Having recently spent some quality time in family court this post made me smile. This is something that needed to happen a LONG time ago! I can’t imagine what a huge difference it will make. We were fortunate that we did not have to wait long periods of time in between court hearings for our contested adoption…(we filed in Carmel) but that probably is not the case in Lake County. Think of all the time and money saved for the families, for the county and even for the attoneys. More time equals more clients, right?
Maybe some good things WILL come out of this silly depression after all.
Traci Bests last blog post..Give it all away!
Hi Traci,
I like the cooperative aspirational model. It makes sense for keeping costs down and families as sane and happy as they can be during difficult times. The adversarial model might work for some areas, but the commentary in the Lake County local rules indicates that the rules drafters think it does more harm than good in the family law context.
It’s great that you were able to resolve all of your family law issues without much hassle, it sounds.
If people are willing to agree to work out issues between each other, they can often save lots of time and money because most things can be worked out through agreed orders.