January 2003

Family Law Section Executive Council

Colorado Bar Association

Minutes of January 17, 2003 meeting

Attendees:    

Deb Anderson (by phone)     Angela Arkin                     Gretchen Aultman

 Kathryn Beck                     Al Bonin                              Bob Cooper

Mary Jane Cox                  Mike DiManna                   Fran Fontana

Sheila Gutterman             Chris Hardaway                 Beth Henson

Dave Johnson                    Mark Leonard                     David Littman

Ron Litvak                         Catherine Lohman            Bob Malman

Steve McBride                   Frank McGuane                Joan McWilliams

Tim Mehrtens                    Lesleigh Monahan            Rick Nicoletti

Dianne Peterson               Dick Rotole                          Bonnie Schriner

Katherine Tamblyn         Kim Willoughby                          

Visitors:       Valerie Craven                   Liz Giordano (CBA-CLE representative)

                      Melissa McClerkin            Michael Valdez (by telephone)    

Excused: Steve Lass

            The minutes of the November 15, 2002 meeting were approved. 

Officer reports

Chair – Lesleigh Monahan.

            The Brown Bag Lunches are going well, and are well received by the bench.  Larimer County is scheduled for February 11, 2003; Adams County is scheduled for March 10.

            2003 “Flying Squad” to assist divorcing parties in Eastern Colorado.  Not enough people are signing up to assist on the Flying Squad dates for Sterling, Colorado.  Those dates are: March 31, May 28, July 29, September 26, and November 20.  Please contact Sharon Plettner (303.828.9540) to sign up for one of those dates. 

Chair-elect – Steve Lass (others presented the below information.)

            Budget and Grants Committee.  No formal grant requests were received.  Magistrate James Anderson did make a proposal for special funding of Special Advocate appointments in indigent cases wherein a specific expertise is needed.  After some discussion, it was decided to table this subject because of the huge number of issues involved in this proposal.

            Judge Leland Anderson made a proposal regarding the need for supervised visitation programs for economically disadvantaged parents in Jefferson County.  He has some community connections, and talked about possibly using senior citizens, and was looking for someone to help with it.  Kathryn Beck said that she would contact Judge Anderson, and Rick Nicoletti said that he would help.

            Legislative Committee. (Beth Henson, Dick Rotole, et.al.)   The 50/50 parenting time bill is not being introduced.  The former sponsor has dropped it.  It could still get in as a late bill, but that seems unlikely at this time. 

            The proposed newest version of the “Dr. Laura” bill -- mandatory counseling/one-year waiting period bill would require a party to be domiciled in Colorado for one year prior to the Court obtaining subject matter jurisdiction, and then would require an additional one-year waiting period from date of filing to the divorce being final.  Meanwhile, the parties must attend 6 hours of counseling.  The Council voted unanimously to oppose this bill  (Angela Arkin abstained).

            Dick Rotole reported that a 75-page bill involving child support and other matters had just come out, and that Senate Bill 79 also has some of the 2000 Uniform Parentage Act language.  He will disseminate the bill once he has had a chance to digest the contents.

            Two bills are in the works to raise the filing fees for dissolution of marriage.  Both bills have as their premise that all of the proceeds would go to the state judicial department.  One bill would raise the filing fees, and would establish some new fees.  The other bill would increase current fees by 50%.  Although the second is a much cleaner bill, it would not raise as much money for the court.  The Governor views filing fee increases as a tax, and has stated that he will not raise taxes.  We each must talk to our legislators and to the Governor to say that the courts are having a real crisis.  The Council voted unanimously to support an increase in the filing fees, so long as the money goes to the state judicial department.  Angela Arkin abstained from all voting on legislation.

            The February Council meeting will address legislation.  Also, an open forum will be held by the Legislative Committee for people to discuss legislative matters.  The open forum is scheduled for March 21 at 10:30 a.m. before our March luncheon.

Secretary -  Bonnie Schriner.

            If anyone notices published FLS information needing updated or changed, please contact Bonnie Schriner.

            The Uniform Mediation Act (UMA) Task Force of the CBA has decided not to take further action unless and until we hear that the legislature begins some action concerning the UMA.  The Task Force determined that Colorado’s current ADR statutes are much better defined and have stronger confidentiality provisions than the proposed UMA. 

            Lunch participation for judges by teleconference seemed to go well, after the microphone problem was fixed.  We will be making a recommendation to the Council concerning luncheon telephone conference participation by section members outside the metropolitan area, as well as continuing the judicial participation in the telephone conferencing.  The suggestions will include cost and a mechanism for doing this project on a monthly basis. 

Treasurer – Fran Fontana.

            The Treasurer reports for November and December, 2002 are attached to these minutes.

Committee Reports

CLE – Gretchen Aultman.  The Basic Skills Course will be held February 20 – 21.  April 4 is the proposed date for the Spring Update.  They will need help with the Update. 

Liz Giordano from CBA-CLE asked about topics for CLEs.  She asked about HIPPA and Medical Privacy Act.  Some topics suggested were: voluntary underemployment in hard economic times, reaching retirement age and its impact on maintenance and support modifications, and military issues with Bill Carew or Ed Schilling.

In the areas of possible legislative initiative, Beth Henson and Kathryn Beck both mentioned that the temporary maintenance law does not include a calculation credit for “other children” of whom a parent has custody. 

Book Sales – Mark Leonard.   We need to print 50 more Bench Bar books.  Approval was given.  Angela Arkin agreed to help with updates.

Judicial Education—Angela Arkin.

Judge Arkin was asked to be on the state judicial training committee.  It was suggested that the Brown Bag Lunches may be used as judicial training.  The judges especially want training in financial areas.  Sheila Gutterman and Mark Leonard offered to serve on this committee. 

It was discussed whether or not time at the Family Law Institute could be set aside for judicial training.  The topic was tabled at this time, and Gary Abrams will be contacted to discuss this.

New Business

            Arapahoe County Docket Control/Special Master program.  Arapahoe County bench and bar had a meeting to talk about their huge case backlog and problems and how to help.  Steve McBride, Mike DiManna, Bob Hinds, and others suggested using Special Masters under the Rules of Civil Procedure.  They are getting a list together of attorneys to be Special Masters.  The criteria will include: 10 years’ legal experience; 50% of practice in domestic relations.  This will be a fee paid program.  Clients will choose from among those on the list.  People who sign up for the list are expected to take 4 cases per calendar year; 2 cases are to be at their regular rate; 2 cases at a reduced rate.  Hearings can be held at the courthouse as a safe facility.  Mike, Steve and Bob will be soliciting members for the list. 

            Judge Arkin suggested that Special Masters discuss with the court how much case management they want the judges to do on a particular case. 

            Steve McBride asked that if anyone has a recording system with 4 microphones, which they want to sell, to please contact him.  The recording system is needed to assist the Special Master program.

            Mike, Steve, Al Bonin, etc. will be creating all the forms and get this list started.

            Balanson case.   Frank McGuane believes there is a problem which FLS needs to address concerning the Balanson case and how it deals with and defines marital property.  Mike DiManna thinks we should address it and send it to the Legislative Committee. Ron Litvak believes that significant unfairness can occur and recognizes there are discovery problems.  Kim Willoughby said that the Trusts & Estates Section is not going to do anything because the FLS does not have a consensus on what to do or how to do it with regard to the difficulties the Balanson decision has created.  Bob Cooper felt that the problems created by the Balanson case were not an issue of broad based interest, and the Council should put its efforts elsewhere.  Frank McGuane said that he would circulate a draft of his proposal from 2002. 

Lesleigh said a March 21st meeting will address legislation, and the Legislative Committee is the place to look at this and make recommendations to the Council. 

Rule 16.3 Committee – Dave Johnson.   Dave is a member of the Supreme Court’s Rule 16.3 Committee, which will govern Simplified Domestic Relations Procedure.  The draft will try to address many areas of concern.  Dave expects the draft will include: a fiduciary duty between spouses; opt-out provision within 10 days after the first status conference; discovery will graft on the current mandatory disclosures, as well as all of the documents you can currently get with standard requests for production of documents; the form of financial affidavit will be broader, and any document relied upon for the financial affidavit must also be produced; the financial affidavit will be due within 20 days of the response being due; the rest of the documents will be due within 40 days.  Tom Henley, Dave Johnson, and Judge Frederickson are working on this draft.

Additionally, each court will do local rules on some of their procedures.  The first conference will be within 30 to 50 days; there will be some time line provided for completing ADR. 

Dave emphasizes that he expects second and third drafts to come from the committee.  Then the process will go to the Supreme Court, and then it will be put out for public comment.  Dave welcomes all ideas and suggestions.