Superior Court of California County of Orange Family Law Case Management Plan

Transcription

1 Superior Court of California County of Orange Family Law Case Management Plan Beginning June 1, 2010, new Family Law cases are being assigned to a judicial officer for all purposes at the time a hearing document is filed. 1 This is a natural opportunity to commence case management for Family Law as all cases assigned to a judicial officer will have a future hearing date, and at the judicial officer s discretion, may continue to be monitored by that judicial officer through the setting of Status Conferences and Case Resolution Conferences until Judgment is entered. 2 Cases in which the parties have not requested a hearing date and are not filing documents necessary to move their case toward Judgment are monitored electronically and noticed to appear on the court s Case Management Calendar. This is a balanced case management plan, allowing judicial officers to use their discretion as to the amount of Court involvement (if any) needed in a particular case and also includes checkpoints for parties that might be lost in the system and where Court intervention might be helpful. Recommendations from the Elkins Task Force: Checkpoints can allow the court and parties the opportunity to identify issues that often create delay, confusion, and frustration, particularly for those parties who are selfrepresented. Checkpoints should be established at regular intervals in the case In general, the court should check in with the parties about the status of the case no less than once a year. Unnecessary court appearances increase the cost and inconvenience to the parties and are not a wise use of limited judicial resources. We should not require that every family take the time to appear before a judicial officer or other officer of the court if that is not needed for the prompt and just resolution of their case. Caseflow management procedures need not necessarily require a court hearing or mandatory appearance if it appears that the matter can be resolved and/or adequately monitored by the court without direct judicial involvement. Family Centered Case Resolution Plan Step 1 At Case Initiation Self-represented Petitioners and Respondents receive a 4-page information packet a) Welcome to the Court cover sheet b) Overview of the Divorce/Paternity Process chart c) Legal Resources Information Sheet d) Notice of Change of Address form 1 Cases scheduled for a hearing on one of the specialty calendars (Default, Dismissal, Self-Represented Trial) will remain unassigned as these calendars are not heard by direct calendar judicial officers. 2 On July 6, 2010 all cases without a future hearing date were moved to the assigned judicial officer s suspense inventory. The Family Law Monthly Workload reports can be modified to report only active inventory which will provide a genuine look at how a judicial officer is managing his/her cases. When resources are available, the Court can look back to the suspense inventories and implement procedures to address unresolved cases. 1

2 Superior Court of California County of Orange Family Law Case Management Plan Step 2 - At Days Cases meeting pre-set electronic criteria are noticed and scheduled for a Procedural Assistance Conference with Self-Help Center staff. a) No future hearing date b) No default c) No attorney d) No Judgment e) No collaborative or privately compensated private judge agreement At this conference SHC staff will answer procedural questions, assist with service issues, provide referrals to workshops or legal services as appropriate, assist with dismissal forms. No minute order is produced since there is no judicial involvement; the event will be closed with a docket code indicating appearance or no appearance. Step 3 - At 240 Days Cases meeting pre-set electronic criteria are noticed and scheduled for a Case Status Conference. Assigned cases will be scheduled before the assigned judicial officer. Unassigned cases will be scheduled before the Supervising Judge or his/her designee. a) No Judgment b) No future hearing date c) No collaborative or privately compensated private judge agreement At this conference the judicial officer may make a direct referral to the SHC; make case management orders regarding disclosure, discovery, etc.; assess the case for issues that may require additional tracking; assign an unassigned case to a judicial officer for all purposes; schedule a future status conference. Step 4 - At 360 Days Cases meeting pre-set electronic criteria are noticed and scheduled for a Case Resolution Conference. Assigned cases will be scheduled before the assigned judge. Unassigned cases will be scheduled before the Supervising Judge or his/her designee. a) No Judgment (Judgment Status Only does not exclude a case.) a) No future hearing b) No collaborative or privately compensated private judge agreement At this conference the Supervising Judge may assign the case to a direct calendar judicial officer for all purposes and schedule a Case Management Conference in that department for future 2

3 Superior Court of California County of Orange Family Law Case Management Plan tracking; schedule the case for a Settlement Conference. All cases have a future hearing date from this point until Judgment is filed. Step 5 - At 3 Years and 60 Days from Case Initiation Cases meeting pre-set electronic criteria will be noticed for dismissal pursuant to CCP a) No proof of service has been filed b) No Response c) No Judgment d) No support or custody/parenting order e) No future hearing date A Dismissal Calendar-3 Year will be scheduled bi-weekly as a specialty calendar and heard by a judicial officer as a division of the Family Law miscellaneous workload. Step 6 - At 5 Years from Case Initiation Cases meeting pre-set electronic criteria are noticed for dismissal pursuant to CCP a) No future hearing date b) No Judgment c) No support order or custody/parenting order A Dismissal Calendar-5 Year will be scheduled bi-weekly as a specialty calendar and heard by a judicial officer as a division of the Family Law miscellaneous workload. 3

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