THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260535
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Virginia News
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
A proposal to fund a new family court system by increasing district court filing fees won approval Wednesday from a state Senate committee.
The General Assembly approved the family courts concept three years ago but did not provide money or staffing. The bill, endorsed by the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, would add $4 to the filing fees for district court cases - about half of which are traffic cases. The measure is expected to raise about $18 million in the first two years the courts operate.
The new system would replace the current juvenile and domestic relations courts with courts that also handle divorces, adoptions and some other cases now heard in circuit courts.
The idea is to create a more user-friendly family court system, supporters said at a public hearing before the committee. They also said the new system would take a burden off circuit courts.
``Family issues are divided between two courts,'' said Lelia Hopper, director of the family court project with the Virginia Supreme Court. ``We do not deal with the whole family . . . and we do not always use the right staff.''
The two bills, sponsored by committee chairman Joseph V. Gartlan, D-Fairfax, would add 33 new judges as well as additional clerks and independent mediators who would help resolve some cases before they get to court. The money for all those positions would come from the filing fee increase.
Juvenile and domestic court cases now can be appealed at the circuit court level. Under the new system, family court cases would be appealed to the Virginia Court of Appeals. That means family court rulings are more likely to stand because fewer cases would be reheard.
That's important to parents and children who want custody cases and other emotional cases resolved promptly, said Dale Harris, a juvenile and domestic relations judge whose court participated in a pilot family courts program in 1990. State judicial officials have been working on the family courts concept for about 10 years.
Opponents of the legislation complained the higher filing fees would discourage small claims cases. Fees now are $27 in traffic cases and $12 in civil cases.
Still up in the air is where the money for the necessary capital improvements will come from. In Fairfax County, for example, capital improvements are estimated to cost $1.8 million. Although some senators suggest the state should provide the money, Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, said that would effectively kill the entire family courts legislation. The state does not have the money available, he said.
The measure now goes to the Senate Finance Committee for review.
If it passes there, it will advance to the Senate floor.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY FAMILY COURT by CNB