The Courant
A task force has identified areas of the state's child-custody system that it says the Judicial Branch ought to evaluate, including whether to establish billing rates for legal guardians appointed to represent children in contentious court cases.
The Task Force to Study Legal Disputes Involving the Care and Custody of Minor Children issued a 43-page report Friday. The report comes after the volunteer 10-member group held 13 meetings and a 15-hour public hearing in four months.
There were many points of contention, including criticism over high legal costs. The task force studied, among other issues, the roles of lawyers and guardians appointed by courts to represent children.
"Given the issues that were within our charge, it was not unexpected that there would be disagreement and enthusiastic debate among the members of the Task Force," the report reads in part.
Full story: The Courant
Showing posts with label Jennifer Verraneault. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jennifer Verraneault. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Connecticut - State's Child Custody System Under Scrutiny Over Costs
The Courant
Peter Szymonik of Glastonbury says he had to dip into his child's college fund to pay for the court-appointed guardians who represented his sons during his 2008 divorce.
"I've got this nightmare scenario," said Szymonik, a member of an advocacy group lobbying to reform the state's child custody system.
Criticism over high legal costs is just one area under examination by a state panel that must make recommendations to the legislature's Judiciary Committee by Feb. 1.
The task force is studying the roles of lawyers and guardians — called guardians ad litem — appointed by courts to represent children in contentious cases involving parenting and the custody and care of children.
It is also studying whether judges are complying with a statute requiring them to consider the best interests of children. The volunteer 10-member task force, formed last year, is also considering whether Connecticut should adopt a presumption that shared custody is in the best interest of a minor child in actions involving the custody and care of the child.
"We're here to look for solutions and try to see if we can improve the system that everybody is complaining about," one task force member, Rep. Minnie Gonzalez (D-Hartford), said at a Jan. 9 public hearing.
Full story: The Courant
Peter Szymonik of Glastonbury says he had to dip into his child's college fund to pay for the court-appointed guardians who represented his sons during his 2008 divorce.
"I've got this nightmare scenario," said Szymonik, a member of an advocacy group lobbying to reform the state's child custody system.
Criticism over high legal costs is just one area under examination by a state panel that must make recommendations to the legislature's Judiciary Committee by Feb. 1.
The task force is studying the roles of lawyers and guardians — called guardians ad litem — appointed by courts to represent children in contentious cases involving parenting and the custody and care of children.
It is also studying whether judges are complying with a statute requiring them to consider the best interests of children. The volunteer 10-member task force, formed last year, is also considering whether Connecticut should adopt a presumption that shared custody is in the best interest of a minor child in actions involving the custody and care of the child.
"We're here to look for solutions and try to see if we can improve the system that everybody is complaining about," one task force member, Rep. Minnie Gonzalez (D-Hartford), said at a Jan. 9 public hearing.
Full story: The Courant
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