ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602260054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHANIE STOUGHTON AND LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITERS
THE FAMILY COURT, which would cradle all domestic cases currently scattered among other courts, has been delayed because state legislators can't agree how to pay for it.
The proposed family court system, heralded by lawmakers and court officials, won't happen soon.
The 1993 General Assembly, impressed by pilot programs in Roanoke County and other places, approved the idea and suggested the new system begin in 1995. But legislators haven't been able to agree on a way to finance it.
The new system would bring all the domestic cases now spread across the courts under the purview of the family court, which would replace the juvenile court.
The Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court now handles cases that include child- and family-related crimes, child support, custody and visitation matters. Circuit judges hear other family-related issues, such as divorces and adoptions.
Cases often are appealed to Circuit Court or sent back to Juvenile Court - creating a game of legal pingpong that advocates of family court say hurts the people it seeks to help.
But the family court proposal would lead to a large influx of cases to juvenile court, a system already swamped by rising juvenile crime and the recently added caseload of matters involving people who live together.
In the 23rd Judicial Circuit, which includes Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem, the number of new cases filed in Juvenile Court grew from 12,222 in 1989 to 17,815 in 1994.
Chief Judge Joseph Clarke said he and other Roanoke Valley court officials support the concept of handling all family matters in one court, but they are worried that the proposed addition of just one judge for the 23rd Circuit would not be enough.
"We were concerned that if they had founded the family court, we would be even more behind than we already are," he said. Some people now must wait 60 to 90 days for a hearing after a case is filed, and the fear was that those delays might grow longer.
When the family court was proposed in 1993, it called for 25 new judges across the state, 90 new clerks and 68 mediators. The package that died for lack of funding this year had been expanded to 33 judges, at a cost of $10 million a year.
A bill sponsored by Sen. Joseph Gartlan, D-Fairfax County, suggested tacking $4 on to the filing fees for district court cases to fund the new court. The measure would have raised an estimated $18 million after two years of the courts' operation.
Gartlan's bill, however, died in the Senate Finance Committee.
Del. James Almand, D-Arlington, fared only slightly better: His funding bill was sent to the House Appropriations Committee for further study .
Another Almand bill, which deals with the technical aspects of family courts but doesn't provide funding, cleared the House, 94-1, and was expected to reach the Senate floor Monday.
The bill was amended to postpone family courts until 1998, with hope money will be available to rejuvenate the concept.
Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, said lawmakers who like the family court concept may not like the idea of increasing the cost for people filing district court cases, half of which are traffic-related.
But, "I've been in favor of it from the beginning," he said. "I think it will help keep families together."
Pilot programs in Roanoke County and other parts of the state have ended. Although juvenile courts in some jurisdictions took all family-related matters from circuit courts during the pilot program, Clarke said that was not possible in Roanoke County because the judges thought they were already overworked.
At the time, the docket in Roanoke County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court often was not completed until after 6 p.m.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB