Ron Ramer (a trained mediator and educator) and I spent the
past several years developing a program to help Kane County family court work
more efficiently and concentrate resources where needed. We pitched the program
to the Kane County Bar Association family law committee. Unfortunately the committee
rejected this concept, largely because of a few vocal opponents to change; but
it really is an idea worth exploring.
Here is how the program would work. The parties and their
attorneys would meet with a facilitator early in the case and the facilitator
would “diagnose” the level of conflict. The facilitator would categorize the
conflict as follows:
- Low conflict: the parties were amicable and could agree on the most of the issue
- Medium conflict: the parties were reasonable and while no agreement was imminent, mediation or negotiation would likely conclude the case
- High conflict: For any number of reasons, the case was volatile, very contentious and would need ample court resources
The facilitator, after diagnosing the conflict, would report
to the trial judge who could better allocate resources to those in the high
conflict range. The added benefit of the program is that the court could insist
that the low conflict cases conclude more quickly, freeing up resources to
concentrate on the higher conflict families.
By freeing up space on the docket, the court could micromanage the high conflict
cases and move those cases through the system more promptly. Children are
victims of their parent’s conflict, and accelerating the process will help
these children start healing sooner.
It is too bad that the KCBA family law committee did not recognize
the importance of this worthy goal. I am
working on article that will discuss this concept in more detail.
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