Chief Judge Lloyd’s Response to Opponent’s Allegations

CHIEF JUDGE LLOYD’S RESPONSE TO OPPONENT’S ALLEGATIONS

Normally, I would not respond to my opponent’s claims, but when his charges mislead the public, I feel compelled to reply. His statement that in my “6 plus years” as Supervisor of Family Court “not one meaningful change has been made” is entirely incorrect.

Here are some of the changes in Family Court during my twelve years as Judge:

• In 2006, I chaired the Committee that updated our local Family Law Rules which contain a provision allowing the litigants the ability to have the same Judge or Magistrate continue to hear their case for subsequent hearings.
• Superior Court also has a parental education workshop for divorcing parents to encourage cooperation and mediation between separating and divorcing parents. The goals of this workshop are to aid the children of divorcing parents by helping the parents with post-separation parenting issues and to encourage agreements between the litigating parents in the best interest of their children.
• I was instrumental in increasing the number of Summary Hearings held in our Family Cases. These provide litigants relatively quick and with less expense court intervention to resolve their issues before matters worsen.
• In 2003, I sought and received an Indiana Supreme Court appointment to its Domestic Relations Committee. During my five years with this Committee, we created a manual to be used by other Domestic Relations Courts throughout the state of Indiana, so that more continuity would exist in all Family Courts of Indiana. We also worked on amending the Indiana Child Support Guidelines to make them more fair, consistent and predictable for the parties. We also helped create an on-line child support calculator so litigants would have the tools to determine child support issues for themselves.
• In 2008, I began our Family Court Project which for nearly five years has helped indigent families in domestic matters resolve their own case to their satisfaction by creating a free clinic where lawyers assist them with creating court agreements. With this program, we also referred many disagreements to mediation, so families did not have to come to court, and referrals could be made for counseling when needed. In our very first year, we were able to help 63 families and 81 children. As time progressed, our program became so successful that the State of Indiana asked us to create a handbook for other counties, so they too could create their own Family Court Project like Vanderburgh’s plan. Recently, Daviess and Pike Counties cited our handbook when applying for their own Family Court grants. As we approached our fifth year, we expanded our Family Court concept by creating the Alternative Dispute Resolution Fund which is used specifically to mediate family cases in a greater number. With the aid of a trained mediator, indigent and non-indigent families will have the opportunity to resolve their differences outside of the courthouse and with less impact on their children.
• In 2009, our community saw the creation of the Parenting Time Center which is a safe place for children during tumultuous parenting time exchanges and for children to have supervised visits with a parent. As a Judge, not only have I sent parents and children to the Parenting Time Center, but I have also assisted the Center with obtaining grants to continue its operation.
• Beginning September 1, 2012, our Court system is being restructured to meet the changing needs of our community. Paternities cases which have increased in number over the years will join domestic relations matters to create a true Family Court where four Judges and a Magistrate will focus their resources to resolving these cases quicker to seek positive outcomes. Drug and Alcohol addictions will be addressed earlier by the Courts with a specialized Class D Felony treatment court, and the Juvenile Court will have more time to focus on children. My initial reservations about such a total revamping of the Court system were alleviated once we, seven Judges, developed a well-reasoned, thoughtful plan to optimally address our community’s needs from its Court system.