Mediation - Video Explaining Pros and Con

I found this video on Lextube. I think it does a very good job of explaining the good and bad of mediation.

A Guest Post Following up on My Court Records Post

A brief introduction and an apology: the following came via e-mail after publishing Court Files, Court Records and Getting Them and the delay came about due to the need to deal with work. This is my first guest post. The formatting got lost in translation, so I will apologize for that also. I want to point out that this e-mail underscores just how little data we have on our courts.

I'll start with a disclosure- I work with one of the companies that "competes" with the Odyssey system by providing an alternative that works today and costs the taxpayers nothing. It *does* cost attorneys something, but in total, considerably less that the fees and taxes assessed to pay for the State's system. To give you an idea of the difference in expense, the annual salary costs for JTAC staff alone is about three times gross receipts in the last year. Their entire budget for 2009 was roughly 12 times our gross receipts. 50 counties use our system, so much of the court information in the State is in fact centrally available.

Here are several pieces of information that may have been unclear from the article you saw: 1) The Odyssey system doesn't include document imaging, so despite the $89 Million (per the LSA) spent by the Judicial Technology and Automation Committee so far, you still can't obtain complete public case documents from any of the counties that use the Odyssey system without visiting the courthouse. What you can get is part of the CCS. 2) The system procured by the Kosciusko clerk *does* include document imaging and the ability to share all public court information, including document images on-line.

Five clerks using that system requested permission from the Division of State Court Administration in April 2008 to make documents available on-line, more clerks have sought permission since then, but the Division of State Court Administration has not yet acted on those requests. It is not inferior technology or the unwillingness of local clerks that has kept these records bound up in the county courthouses. It is within the State Court Administrative Division's power to grant this access, and they have simply not allowed it. This may be because the Odyssey system doesn't stack up very well in comparison to the existing systems and this will become apparent if access is allowed. The Kosciusko clerk has opted to use a system that costs less per court than Odyssey and is capable of providing more of the type of access you would like to see. Of course, a press release from the folks promoting Odyssey won't highlight that distinction. Sadly, most newspaper articles on the topic are nearly verbatim reprints of those releases.

I am willing to chat further with you about this if you are interested- I also wouldn't mind posting any of the information above as a comment on your blog, just posting a comment felt a bit like starting an argument instead of a dialogue. Since I'm in agreement with you basic premise that broader access to court information is, I thought I'd start with a personal communication to correct some of the inaccuracies in that article and invite further discussion. Best Regards, -Nick

News - Federal Judge Stops Changes in Foster Car Payments

While outside my practice area, this may interest some of my readrs. The Indiana Lawyer published Judge blocks DCS rate changes for now last week:

A federal judge in Indianapolis has temporarily blocked the Indiana Department of Child Services from reducing the amounts it pays to foster and adoptive parents and juvenile-service providers.

After an hours-long hearing Wednesday in two combined cases against the state agency, U.S. Judge Sarah Evans Barker of the District Court's Indianapolis Division granted a preliminary injunction against the DCS. This means that service providers and those adoptive and foster parents will continue getting the same money received during 2009, at least until the case progresses or the court orders differently.

***

Some people have already seen reductions in their payment, and those issues may be worked out at a later time, the parties said.

"We consider this a victory for children, and we're very glad that our concerns were heard," said Cathleen Graham, IARCCA executive director. "The children we're working with are very vulnerable and need these services, and I believe the judge saw the potential for harm with any delay in doing this. We're very satisfied with what she said about the importance of that promise of quality care that's stated in federal law. That speaks to what we as providers are very concerned about when we offer these services to children and their families."

Ken Falk, legal director for the ACLU of Indiana, said his class of clients was also pleased about the judge's ruling as it ensures they won't be faced immediately with lower reimbursements for the services they provide. The state now has a chance to appeal the decision, but if that doesn't happen then the case can move to trial, Falk said.

In response to the ruling, DCS spokeswoman Ann Houseworth said the agency was disappointed but will abide by it while officials continue pursuing all options to provide for the best possible care. As no official written ruling has yet been issued, Houseworth said no decision had yet been made about appealing the decision.

Indiana Child Support Guidelines Explained

DivorceSupport.com has a page here for child support definitions. I think it is a bit of a misnomer - the page is actually a readable explanation of how the Guidelines are to work.

I think I better mention that the web page does not appear to take into account any changes in the new Indiana Child Support Guidelines (for those follow this link). I looked it over fast but I do not think it will make any difference except in some details.

Some English Marriage and Divorce History

The following is from the Times (London) Literary Supplement's review of The English Marriage by Maureen Waller. I thought it might be sof some interest.

Meanwhile, common law disregarded all that gothic canon law and refused to confer the usual marital property rights on couples who had not gone through a public church ceremony. The state had a vested interest in the proper procedures too, mooting a tax on marriages in the 1690s and levying a stiff stamp duty on marriage licences. Above all, rich parents believed they had the right to dispose their offspring as they saw fit and as rank, blood and inheritance demanded. The rage of property owners when errant daughters eloped with penniless adventurers helped to fuel the passing of Hardwicke’s Marriage Act in 1753, which made the marriages of those under twenty-one illegal without the consent of their guardians.

The Act legislated that only a marriage in the parish church of one of the lovers performed by an ordained priest of the Church of England was valid. Jews and Quakers were exempt, but not Nonconformists, who had to swallow their denominational pride or be seen to live in sin. Famously, the Act had no purchase in Scotland, and inadvertently sparked a panting rush for the border to the accommodating vicars of Gretna Green. But it would be decades before older ideas of informal marriage would be stamped out entirely in England.

Courts Cost Money

For those wanting to understand a bit more the courts in your life, and for those who think we need judicial reform (particularly child custody matters), this post is for you.

Indiana's Chief Justice must give a yearly State of the Judiciary speech to the Indiana General Assembly. From The Indiana Lawyer's report on his speech, Chief justice: courts handling the tough times, I latched onto the following paragraphs:

The chief justice encouraged lawmakers to support any measures designed to help the judiciary collect all revenue that the law says is due from court operations so that it can go directly to state and county budgets that need it. Because requests for new courts and judges just aren't reasonable because of the economic state, the chief justice urged lawmakers to support legislation that would allow retired magistrates to also work as senior judges to ease local caseloads.

Additionally, the chief justice recommended that lawmakers support legislation that would create a framework for new veterans' courts, problem-solving courts that would allow the judiciary to better deal with those with special disabilities stemming from military service pressures. This would mimic what's already been done with drug and re-entry courts, he said.

"This bill has no fiscal note at all, and indeed the net of these three ideas is revenue positive," he said, adding to a message that the judiciary will do all that it can to assist in these tough times.

***

Chief Justice Shepard also pointed to areas the judiciary has worked on during 2009: a statewide electronic protective order registry system is enacted in every county, and hundreds of law enforcement agencies have used the e-citation system implemented in the past year. He also pointed out the 1,112 attorneys and judges who've been trained to help in mortgage foreclosure cases, and that the judiciary will soon put facilitators into foreclosure-settlement sessions to help. In addition, the number of new volunteers trained as court-appointed special advocates in 2009 increased 26 percent over 2008.

He also spoke about how the state's judicial branch is about ready to unveil new statewide jury instructions that will be easier for non-attorneys to understand and how a statewide assessment tool for juvenile offenders in the Department of Correction has been adopted.

Even if there was a role for a court to act in a more policeman role, that is a more activist role, there is no money for them to do so.

Even more specifically about family law and judge, The Indiana Lawyer published State funding of judges being explored

Lawmakers rejected a southern Indiana county's request this week for a new judge to run a family court, even though it proposes paying for it locally rather than with state money. But in declining to attach the magistrate-turned-judge idea to another bill, a House committee said it wants to keep talking about the issue that could be a policy-altering move in how Indiana pays for its trial court judges.

The House Judiciary Committee approved HB 1154, which would allow Marion County to convert its 24 appointed commissioners to magistrates that hold the same responsibilities but would be able to consider a wider range of issues within each court. The county proposes paying the $2.3 million for those magistrates with a $35 fee tacked on to traffic infractions, which has been collected since 2004 and is by law turned over to the state general fund. The fee initially went into place to pay for jail overcrowding costs, but that issue has been largely resolved and the fee isn't used for that anymore. Now, the state's largest county wants to use that money to save the state from having to pay for the county magistrates or pay for adding new judicial officers.

***

Committee members voted 11-0 in support of the idea, but not before voicing hesitation about a proposal by Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, to amend the legislation so that Bartholomew Superior Court could also convert a commissioner position into a new Superior judgeship starting in July 2011.

This would allow the county to convert a current commissioner, who hears only child support non-payment cases, to a judge that could hear all family-related case types. Bartholomew Circuit Judge Stephen Heimann proposed using the same kind of funding mechanism as Marion County is proposing in its commissioner-to-magistrate conversion - using a fee of at least $20 on traffic infractions that would go to the state general fund. If anything fell short of the estimated $150,000 needed, the county would be responsible for making up the difference. An estimated $189,000 per year could be raised from the fee, and be applied not only to the judge's salary but also benefits, Judge Heimann said.

Even without this having a state fiscal impact, Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon, questioned why the proposed amendment didn't call for a commissioner-to-magistrate change as Marion County's proposal did, but rather a commissioner-to-judge. In response, Judge Heimann said it was specifically because the county needed a new family court and needed a judge's authority to hear all of those issues that might come before it.

Just in case anyone thinks this only an Indiana problem, give a read to The Future of Divorce in MN

The court system is in a financial crisis. This crisis has been articulately described by Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson in highly publicized interviews he has given to the media. I have read some of his interviews, and I have to say that I think he is right. (I also have to disclose that, technically, I work for the Minnesota Supreme Court. My license to practice law is granted by the Minnesota Supreme Court, and in some sense Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson is my “boss.” Regardless, I feel that he is right and I think that anyone who has an interest in the Minnesota court system should make known to their legislators how important it is that the court system be adequately funded.)

In a practical sense, the lack of funding effects every person who is getting divorced in Minnesota. The court filing fee is now $400. It could increase. It costs $100 to file a motion in divorce court, and it even costs $25 to send a fax to the court. These are the costs that are easy for people to recognize.

However, there are other costs. The funding for child custody and parenting time evaluations in Hennepin County has been reduced significantly. Now, judicial officers are talking about parties using private evaluators. Private evaluators typically charge thousands of dollars for a custody or parenting time evaluation.

Unpaid, overworked describes every court I know of.

For Muncie and Delaware County: They Are Looking for CASA Volunteers

From The Muncie Star Press comes Session planned for Delaware County CASA volunteers

The Delaware County Court Appointed Special Advocate Program is now accepting applications for its winter training program. As the number of abused and neglected children continues to grow, the need for committed volunteers is greater than ever.

An informational session for anyone interested in learning more about the CASA program will be 5:30-8:30 p.m. Feb. 1 in the training room at the Youth Opportunity Center, 3700 W. Kilgore Ave.

***

Training dates for those interested in volunteering for CASA will be Feb. 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, 22 and 24 and March 1.

All sessions will be 5:30-8:30 p.m. in the YOC training room.

Those interested in volunteering should call the CASA office at (765) 747-7875. Applicants must be at least 21 years old and will be required to complete a screening process, including a criminal background check.

Having An Amicable Divorce

No, an amicable divorce is not an oxymoron only a difficulty. Give How to Have an Amicable Divorce a read.

Though your life together has ended, your ex will still affect your future. Consider sitting down to talk to your ex about what each of you wants from the future. Ask yourselves some of the following questions. Do you want to be friends? Is it okay if you each stay in contact with the other person’s family? How will visitation work if you have kids? How will you handle new relationships and telling the other person? If you discuss hard issues before they happen, you can pave the way for an amicable divorce.

Online Divorce Resources Reviewed

Divorce Transitions - not much for lawyers being designed for the clients. If you are looking for information that is more than legal (such as handling the stress of a divorce), then this site may be of use. Note that they have things to sell.

Moving Out, Moving On - bills itself as a an online workbook for when a relationship goes wrong.

Divorce Magazine.com - a bit too busy a site for my tastes, but here is how it describes itself:

Divorce Magazine is the Internet's leading divorce and separation resource site, providing information and advice about divorce law, divorce lawyers, family law, children and divorce, and other divorce-related issues as well as information on divorce professionals such as family lawyers and online divorce. At Divorce Magazine, we realize that going through a divorce is a very delicate matter, and we're here to help you through the divorce and separation process.

Life123 has a a series of articles here on divorce dealing with those issues that are not strictly law stuff but which can easily impact a case.

Definitions for Indiana Divorces

Pretty simple and I think a bit short but let us call Indiana Dissolution of Marriage Definitions a good start.

Glossary of Legal Terms exists on our Indiana Courts page at In.gov. Longer and not exclusively geared for family law. Still has a few things that I would add to the first list.

Tips on Handling the Other Parent

Good advice here coming from Divorce, it's just the beginning blog's We Assume a Rational World.

There are no quick fix answers to any of these questions. Each divorce in unique and a “one size fits all” answer doesn’t exist. Keeping this in mind, there are some things a parent can do to minimize the irresponsibility the other parent exhibits. My first suggestion is DON’T lie or cover for the other parent. The children are going to have to figure out their relationship with both parents and cannot do this if they are being presented with misinformation. The parent also should not highlight or dwell on the irresponsible behavior of the other parent by engaging in talking negatively about them.

Try to role model for your children the types of behaviors you want them to exhibit as they grow into adulthood. If you are yelling at them, you are teaching them to yell. If you complain all the time, you are teaching them to complain. Try to show your children the way you want them to act by modeling that behavior. If your ex-partner misses visitation, be there for your children to let them talk about how they feel while letting them know that a parent shouldn’t act that way.

One great problem facing family law lawyers, judges, and the entirety of the family law system is that we have presume everyone is rational. Learning that they are not takes time and a lot of frustration. Yes, lawyers get just as frustrated as our clients. I am nowadays giving advice given me by my mother when people would get my temper flaring: consider the source and ignore them. Read all of the above article, it has sound advice.

Dressing for Court

Ohio Family Law Blog has a spot on post with How To Dress For Court – Do’s And Don’ts. He has some interesting specific suggestions that I will bet are based on experience.

The proper and/or appropriate attire for either party changes dramatically if the parties are facing a “contested” divorce and/or custody hearing, wherein each would be on the witness stand for protracted periods of time and, wherein, their appearances would certainly be scrutinized by the Court.

FOR MEN: Same as above; however, a sports coat or suit could be worn but would not be considered mandatory. If the Husband/Father is seeking custody of his child or children, he would want to be dressed conservatively…nothing too flashy, nothing too out-of-the ordinary. For example, if a young Husband is seeking custody of his child/children, he could receive “negative” points if he appeared in Court in non-traditional attire such as Black Gothic Style clothing or wildly colored hair. Remember, that most Judges are older conservative individuals. If the Husband/Father has an abundance of tattoos, I would definitely suggest that he consider wearing a long-sleeved shirt to “cover” the tattoos! Also, it would be advisable for the client to remove evidence of body piercings….ears, lips, nose, eyebrows, etc.

FOR WOMEN: The main point to remember……..you do not want to appear in Court as Sharon Stone appeared in “Basic Instinct”! This is not the time to appear to be “hot” or “sexy” especially if you are seeking custody of your child or children. You want to appear stable, sensible, warm and loving. Soft colors are better than bright and vibrant colors. Longer skirt lengths are better than short skirt lengths! You do not want to wear anything that would be considered “too short, too skimpy, too wild, too bold, or too sexy”.

I advise my clients to dress appropriately for Court. Dress as you would for church or an important job interview. If you are in the armed services, wearing your military attire is a very safe choice. If you look sloppy or inappropriate, the Judge or Magistrate may believe that you are showing or displaying a lack of respect for the Court. You have but one opportunity to create that “first impression”! So, consider these “do’s and don’ts” in advance of your Court date and make a good impression with the Judge.

I make a slightly different suggestion. Dress like you are going on a date to a very nice restaurant - not a place for a suit and tie. With the point being that the client/witness should feel comfortable in their clothes. Something I learned a long time ago when I still did criminal defense work and jury trials. The client was clearly not comfortable in his clothes and it was attracting the attention of the jury.

Kysa M. Crusco over at the New Hampshire Family Law Blog also picked up on this Mr. Mues' post. She makes a similar point to what to mine above:

Case in point: I was sitting in court waiting for one of my cases to be called and watching a hearing in progress. The case was a parenting action, with two pro se parents appearing before the judge on a contested temporary hearing. The mother appeared neatly groomed and dressed, and seemed reasonable and articulate when presenting her case. The father, on the other hand, was dressed in torn cargo shorts, a thin, white tank top and work boots. He appeared sloppy and careless, and despite the fact the he seemed to have some good points about his case, it was hard to overlook his exterior when assessing his credibility. A pair of slacks or khaki pants and polo shirt would have gone a long way.

Attorney Mues advises litigants to dress as they would for church or an important job interview. Good advice. I would add that you should not overdress either. If you work as a mechanic, and rarely dress in a suit, steer clear. If you are an accountant and go to work every day in a suit, it is a good choice. Pick an outfit that will give a good impression, but an outfit that you will feel comfortable with and fits your personality and profession.

Oh, and piercings...good idea to leave them at home.

Indiana Child Custody Law - Joint Custody as Sharing

I keep looking for better definitions of joint custody in Indiana. Better meaning a clear, concise explanation distinguishing joint from sole custody. So far, Finnerty v. Clutter (Ind: Court of Appeals 2009) has the best (and the latest)

Having determined that the parties have joint legal custody, we conclude that Indiana Code Section 31-17-2-17, on which Mother relies, is inapplicable. We clarified in Gonzalez v. Gonzalez, 893 N.E.2d 333, 336 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008), that "custodian" in the context of Indiana Code Section 31-17-2-17 refers to the legal custodian, not the physical custodian.[1] Indiana Code Section 31-17-2-17, upon which Mother relies, applies to instances in which one parent has legal custody of the child rather than where the parties have joint legal custody.[2] See 14 Ind. Practice Series, Family Law § 8:57 (discussing joint legal custody). Thus, Mother's argument that she, as physical custodian, has authority "to determine the children's religious upbringing" fails. Appellant's Reply Br. p. 1.

"Joint legal custody" means "that the persons awarded joint custody will share authority and responsibility for the major decisions concerning the child's upbringing, including the child's education, health care, and religious training." Ind. Code § 31-9-2-67 (emphasis added). Because Father and Mother have joint legal custody, Father and Mother share authority and responsibility for decisions regarding the children's religious training.

I want to point out that joint custody is not shared custody - there is no physical sharing of a child. Joint custody has one parent with physical custody. See my Defining Joint Custody in Indiana for more details on this point. Joint custody does not mean more physical interaction with the children than sole custody bu tonly a sharing of authority and responsibilities in the child's upbringing.

Drafting Agreements - Cover All the Bases

Take this scenario: parties agree that one gets Y unless x happens. Being even more specific, assume that one party agrees to give the other half a pension, unless the other married.

What happens if the other party does not marry but lives with someone? Does the other party get the share of the pension?

Answer: Yes.

You get stuck with the language you put into an agreement. No better reason exists for getting a lawyer to at least read any agreement put together during any case. A lawyer provides to the parties an objective, critical for catching the problems that might arise out of a proposed agreement. I think document review would be a perfect candidate for an unbundled service.



Married means married. If the Decree/agreement says married, then
living together does not matter. She gets the pension.

Getting Divorced in Indiana and The Wife Is Pregnant

This post concerns itself with searching Google Scholar for Indiana case law.

I noticed the fallowing query on Google brought someone to this blog: "Indiana divorce law pregnancy". I assumed the person sought information about what to do when the wife is pregnant after start of the divorce proceedings.

Since I do not think that I have written on the specific issue, I thought this was a good time to take Google Scholar for a test drive.

The original query did not work very well and so I tweaked the query until by using "Indiana "dissolution of marriage" pregnant wife" I got some results.

If the search was what to do when a wife is pregnant and father doubts paternity, then I think the following set of facts describes a good procedure for father:

Russell v. Russell, 682 NE 2d 513 - Ind: Supreme Court 1997 - Google Scholar

The Russells were married in 1987 while wife was three months pregnant with J.R. During the course of their marriage, wife gave birth to three children, including J.R.

On October 29, 1993, husband filed for dissolution of the marriage and gained temporary custody of the children. In early 1994, however, the trial court approved an Agreed Entry of Joint Custody and Visitation providing that the children would spend 3.5 days per week with each parent. Later, on April 15, 1994, wife filed an Emergency Petition for Temporary Custody and Petition to Terminate Visitation, wherein she maintained that husband was physically abusive toward the children. Her petition was denied. On May 5, 1994, wife filed an Emergency Petition for Modification of the 1994 Agreed Entry, again claiming physical abuse of the children and also asserting that husband was not the biological father of J.R. On June 15, the trial court ordered DNA testing, but husband would not comply. On February 3, 1995, husband, under threat of contempt for failure to submit to the DNA testing, and wife signed an Agreed Entry of Paternity stipulating that husband was not the biological father of J.R. The trial court initially approved the Agreed Entry, but 515 when wife stated that she did not plan to establish paternity in anyone else, the trial court stated that it would vacate it. Before that happened, wife withdrew the 1995 Agreed Entry.

(Lawyers, notice that the opinion contains the West pagination as well as the West citation.)

Got doubts about paternity? Then file a motion for DNA testing. The same procedure can be found in this case: Richard v. Richard, 812 NE 2d 222 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2004 - Google Scholar.

None of this matters unless the child's paternity is questionable.

Calculating Indiana Child Support - Imputing Income

Let us thank a Hamilton County judge for inspiring this post. At a hearing last month, I was asked whether or not the federal minimum wage was to be used when imputing a child support order. Mother had no particular job skills. The judge asked if my argument applied to a housewife. The question struck me as peculiar. Never has a judge ever asked that question. I thought maybe it was a peculiarity of Hamilton County or Noblesville.

Neither Indiana Child Support Guideline 3 nor it s commentary specifies what to use as a basis for the imputation.

Commentary to Guideline 3A

d. Imputing Income. Whether or not income should be imputed to a parent whose living expenses have been substantially reduced due to financial resources other than the parent's own earning capabilities is also a fact‑sensitive situation requiring careful consideration of the evidence in each case. It may be inappropriate to include as gross income occasional gifts received. However, regular and continuing payments made by a family member, subsequent spouse, roommate or live‑in friend that reduce the parent's costs for rent, utilities, or groceries, may be the basis for imputing income. The marriage of a parent to a spouse with sufficient affluence to obviate the necessity for the parent to work may give rise to a situation where either potential income or imputed income or both should be considered in arriving at gross income.

Lambert v. Lambert, 839 NE 2d 708 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2005 outlines the case law up to 2005 (and which was not disturbed by the Indiana Supreme Court when it took transfer of this case).

In a typical case, the Child Support Guidelines provide that if a parent is voluntarily underemployed, the trial court must calculate child support by determining the parent's potential income. Ind. Child Support Guideline 3(A)(3). Potential income is to be determined upon the basis of "employment potential and probable earnings level based on the obligor's work history, occupational qualifications, prevailing job opportunities, and earnings levels in the community." Id. The purposes for including potential income are to "discourage a parent from taking a lower paying job to avoid the payment of significant support" and to "fairly allocate the support obligation when one parent remarries and, because of the income of the new spouse, chooses not to be employed." Child Supp. G. 3, cmt. 2c. The trial court enjoys broad discretion to impute income to a parent so that the parent cannot evade a support obligation. Glover v. Torrence, 723 N.E.2d 924, 936 (Ind.Ct.App.2000). However, we also recognize that there are circumstances in which a parent is unemployed or underemployed for a legitimate purpose other than avoiding child support and in those circumstances, there are no grounds for imputing income. See Abouhalkah v. Sharps, 795 N.E.2d 488, 491 (Ind.Ct.App.2003) (holding that trial court erred in imputing income to a father who had left his job and was now earning less because "[a] parent who chooses to leave his employment rather than move hundreds of miles away from his children is not voluntarily unemployed or underemployed. Instead, he is a loving parent attempting to do the right thing for his children.").

Minimum wage has the benefit of being easily determined and calculated, but I do recall any case where there was any other item that could be used for imputing income. Thomas v. Orlando, 834 NE 2d 1055 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2005 discusses some cases where different bases were used for imputing income:

The trial court imputed minimum wage to Jessica but also concluded that the "fact that she was living at home and had help from family members to meet her day to day needs is not imputable to her as income." Appellant's App. p. 11. Jessica points to our decision in Terpstra v. Terpstra, 588 N.E.2d 592 (Ind.Ct.App.1992), as an example of the way in which we apply this Guideline. In Terpstra, we agreed with the trial court, which declined to include the father's company vehicle as imputed income. In so doing, we noted that "whether to include this amount in the weekly gross income is a matter for the trial court's discretion .... Viewing all the evidence before it, the trial court decided not to impute additional income to Father for his business automobile. We do not find this decision to be an abuse of discretion here." Id. at 595-96.

Robert, in contrast, points to our Supreme Court's decision in Glass v. Oeder, 716 N.E.2d 413 (Ind.1999), as support for his position. In Glass, our Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's order, which included the father's rent-free living arrangement as imputed income. The court noted that the father's "rent-free living arrangement provides him with a lower living cost that presumably frees up money for the support of his children and was a proper basis for the trial court to impute income." Id. at 417. In addition to his living arrangement, the father owned a corporation and received over $40,000 per year as income from that corporation.

Collaborative Divorce - A Somewhat Contrarian View

Eastern North Carolina Divorce's Collaborative Divorce? Don't Hold Your Breath. provides a counterpoise (sort of) to my Should Indiana Have a Statute Promoting Collaborative Divorce? and Explaining Collaborative Divorce.

Traditional divorce already has many of the supposed benefits of collaborative divorce. Attorneys do talk to each other, do realize that it is better for their clients (and their children) to work things out, and really do try to reach agreements for their clients. The only thing that collaborative divorce adds is that the attorneys will withdraw if no agreement is reached. And when that happens, clients have to go through the additional expense of hiring new lawyers and paying them for work that their previous lawyers already did.

To this author, this approach assumes that divorce attorneys try to avoid settling cases so that they can pad billable hours through litigation. I don't subscribe to this cynical approach. My experience is that most attorneys represent their clients interests zealously and honestly. Sometimes this includes going to trial; these cases would have to go to trial even had they begun in the collaborative process.

The only difference is that their clients had to hire two attorneys.

My views probably hew closer to my North Carolina colleague. Settlemetn provides a better resolution for more cases than going to court. Most lawyers know lawyers will work to settle a case than not. I have two rather long pieces on knowing when to fight and when not to here and here.

However, I think every family law attorney knows that there are lawyers who will never settle - they have made their reputations as fearless fighters. Clients think that their fees are the price of admission to litigation. These two mindsets hinder the family law process.

About the fearless fighter type, I recall a hearing in 2008 when a judge lectured opposing counsel and myself with surely this could have been settled by my calling opposing counsel. Other attorney when told about this will laugh. They know that the aottrney's business model is based on not settling cases and they never return calls.

Clients need to realize that the great amount of fees comes from not being in court but in preparing for court - the witness and exhibit preparation, the discovery process. One can invest very heavily in a case that has not yet seen a courtroom. Cutting short the trial preparation need seems to me the economic bonus to the client side of the equation.

Requiring collaborative law ought not remove the lawyer's responsibility to seek settlement of the case. I agree wholeheartedly with my North Carolina colleague on that point.

I see educating about collaborative law as educating about the legal system. The general public needs to understand that their images of a glorious legal battle in a courtroom are wrong. Those images belong on television. They need to understand that what they are paying for is reaching their goals in a case - not merely going into a courtroom.

Now For Some Legal Humor from England

Oh, I am thankful for never having the case described by BabyBarista on their London Times blog under WBLG: Year 4, week 15: judicial blackmail

“Got you a nice little earner for you for tomorrow,” said my Instructing Solicitor SlipperySlope on Monday. “Family case. Very simple.”

“But I don’t know anything about family law,” I answered.

“Don’t worry about that. You probably still know more than me and anyway, it’ll settle, I promise.” Then he added slightly mysteriously, “The judge’ll see to that.

So it was that I ended up doing my first family law case yesterday. I’d done a bit of research but was still massively out of my depth and I admit that my knees were shaking just a little. Which wasn’t helped any when the judge then boomed at my opponent: “Who’s paying for this complete waste of time and money?”

“Er, er,…” My opponent didn’t seem to be any more confident than me in this area and he was stumped. “Er, Your Honour, may I please take instructions?”

“You certainly may. But let me warn you now. If this case is being funded by the taxpayer and it doesn’t settle pretty sharpish, it’s the sort of case where the papers may just well end up with the inland revenue.”

Divorces, Name Changes and Tax Information

The come from Five Filing Facts for Recently Married or Divorced Taxpayers at International Tax Counselors Blog :

Here are five facts from the IRS for recently married or divorced taxpayers. Following these steps will help avoid problems when you file your tax return.

1. If you took your spouse’s last name or if both spouses hyphenate their last names, you may run into complications if you don’t notify the SSA. When newlyweds file a tax return using their new last names, IRS computers can’t match the new name with their Social Security Number.
2. If you were recently divorced and changed back to your previous last name, you’ll also need to notify the SSA of this name change.
3. Informing the SSA of a name change is a snap; you’ll just need to file a Form SS-5, Application for a Social Security Card at your local SSA office.
4. Form SS-5 is available on SSA’s Web site at www.socialsecurity.gov, by calling 800-772-1213 or at local offices. It usually takes about two weeks to have the change verified.
5. If you adopted your spouse’s children after getting married, you’ll want to make sure the children have an SSN. Taxpayers must provide an SSN for each dependent claimed on a tax return. For adopted children without SSNs, the parents can apply for an Adoption Taxpayer Identification Number – or ATIN – by filing Form W-7A, Application for Taxpayer Identification Number for Pending U.S. Adoptions with the IRS. The ATIN is a temporary number used in place of an SSN on the tax return. The W-7A is available on IRS.gov, or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Enforcing Indiana Visitation Rights

Between reading WHAT IS NEEDED FOR VISITATION ENFORCEMENT? and an e-mail from a client of mine, I think I need to clarify some points about enforcing parenting time/visitation that I made in my What to do if refused visitation? and .

First, let us be clear - withholding child support means only more trouble and not less.

Second, the remedy is contempt. See Deckard v. Deckard, 841 NE 2d 194, 203(Ind Ct. App. 2006).

Which brings me to the first point where I find the solutions suggested by WHAT IS NEEDED FOR VISITATION ENFORCEMENT? to be wrong. In addition to the court order granting visitation, it is suggested that a second document be filed with the court and served on the custodial parent:

This sample document is used to notify the non-custodial parent of intent of visitation and printed with permission from DADS Against Discrimination and is intended to help document attempts made while exercising court ordered visitation.

Utterly unnecessary. Custodial parent has all the notice necessary from the court order granting visitation. So does the court. The non-custodial does not give notice because the visitation schedule is expected to be followed without any other action by the non-custodial parent.

Read this from the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines:

2. Punctuality. Each parent shall have the child ready for exchange at the beginning and at the end of the scheduled parenting time and shall be on time in picking up and returning the child. The parents shall communicate as early as possible regarding any situation that would interfere with the timely exchange of the child.

Commentary

Punctuality is a matter of courtesy. Parents should make every effort to pick up and return a child at the agreed time, and not substantially earlier or later. Parents should recognize, however, that circumstances occur that require leeway in the scheduled times. Phone calls are always appropriate when there will be a delay.

This document fails to serve as evidence of visitation but only that the non-custodial parent gave notice. Therefore, it does nothing when custodial parent says the non-custodial parent did not show up.

Further down the page on WHAT IS NEEDED FOR VISITATION ENFORCEMENT?, the site gives advice on how to prove a denial. About the only one that seems even useful to me is to bring a witness.

Getting cop can be done but do not expect them to come along happily, if they do. Police consider this a civil matter and their job deals with criminal matters.

The custodial parent should have copy of the order granting visitation. Therefore, it is wholly unneeded unless non-custodial expects the police to show up and ask why he is there. Also, bringing only the Divorce (or Paternity) Decree can be useless if the Decree was modified and you do not also bring along the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines. Most Decrees now say IPTG at a minimum. (Do not expect the police to know about any of this - visitation is a civil matter and outside their training). Understand that means you got 80 plus pages in your hand by this time, if you follow the suggestions given.

As evidence that you got denied visitation, 4 and 5 are pretty useless. Doing this only proves that you made the recording. Here is the scenario in every visitation case I have tried - defending or pursuing:

Attorney: You were to have visitation on X date?
Non-custodial: Yes.
Attorney: What happened?
Non-Custodial: I was not allowed to have my children.
Attorney: Did custodial give you a make up date?
Non-Custodial: No.

With that the non-custodial establishes a prima facie case for contempt. Remember the burden is on the custodial parent to prove they did not commit contempt. Recording that you got there and were denied changes nothing, adds nothing, to the evidence of the custodial parent.

What confused one of my client is that every missed visitation does not merit a contempt affidavit. No client could afford the cost, no court is going to want to see an affidavit for every missed weekend. If the custodial continues to refuse visitation after filing of a contempt affidavit, the post-filing refusals become evidence of contempt and goes to whatever remedy the trial court orders for the case (such as the number of make up visitation).

Also, see my Enforcing Parenting Time: Contempt

Towards a Successful Relationship

Self Growth Engine has How Little Things Become a Big Problem. I can say from my own experiences find the following very accurate:

Everyone has quirks and characteristics that may be annoying to others, especially when you are spending a lot of time together. The dirty socks on the floor, feet on the couch, dirty dishes in the sink, a unique laugh…When you first start dating someone, these characteristics are not as apparent and may not be an issue. But as time ticks on, these once excusable traits become an issue. However, it is not the trait itself that causes the problem; it is the meaning that we attach to the action. The top 10 complaints that people who are dating have are thinking an act is deliberate, messiness, feeling unloved, feeling unappreciated, feeling controlled, not feeling intimate, flirting, personality conflict, lack of fairness, and feeling criticized. All of the above problems are caused by a common factor; our perceptions and the meaning we attach to others actions. In order to have a successful relationship we must learn to look at other peoples actions in a productive way instead of a destructive pattern.

Give all the article a read.

Out Of All the Tiger Woods Blather, Here is an Interesting Idea

I avoided discussing or mentioning anything about Tiger Woods' marital problems because I just did not see any thing interesting for me or my readers. That is until I read Lawinfo Weblog's Tiger Woods Mistress Reveals Voluntary 3-Year Affair….. Should There Liability for Intentional Interference With Marriage?

The reports are all over the media of how Tiger Woods apparently carried on an affair with his mistress, Jamiee Grubbs, for almost three years! Some reports (mostly tabloids at this stage) quote Jamiee as stating that Tiger would visit her every few months and they’d “enjoy each other’s company.” Aside from the issue of what can be in a husband’s (or wife’s) mind when cheating… what is the deal with these women who go along with these full-blown affairs with men they know are married?

I’ve written previously about the idea of whether or not you should be able to sue the person who has an affair with your spouse or partner… and your comments are greatly appreciated and insightful. In that post, I intentionally focused on the situation of carrying on an all-out affair with full knowledge that the other person was married. In the business world, one can be held liable for tortiously interfering with a business relationship. For instance, if a person convinces another to break his/her business promises or contracts, or prevents a business person from living up to the same, the meddler can be held liable to the injured party who did not receive the benefits of the business relationship. Should there be a similar legal concept for marital relationships? Isn’t that what these cheating partners do?…. convince a husband to break his marriage promises, interfere with the husband’s marital relationship, preventing the wife from receiving all the benefits of the marriage relationship to which she is otherwise entitled?

***

Interesting arguments on both sides. After reading so many of your comments, it is clear to me that a betrayed spouse certainly is left without a legal remedy…. without a “day in court” …. against a man or woman who intentionally interferes with his or her marriage. Tiger’s wife can only renegotiate her prenuptual agreement… she has no direct remedy against the woman who intentionally, and seriously, caused her injury.

Yes, I call that an interesting idea and with which I have some serious problems. As noted above, this idea comes too close to an alienation of affection suit. Indiana is not going to give alienation of affection a revival. (Well, that is my opinion and I am sticking to it.)

Secondly, having some knowledge of third party interference with contracts, I see both a lot of technical/practical problems:

1. That the third party knew of the marriage contract (does not apply to Woods but if you are going to propose a legal remedy it has to apply generally).
2. The offended spouse will be getting money damages (this being a civil suit), but how will they be calculated?
3. Are the courts or legislatures going to import the justification and/or malice requirements?
4. Since money is the remedy in a civil suit, remember that this money will have to come out of the defendant's assets and/or income. You can get a big judgment but not be able to collect. I call that adding insult to injury.
5. Speaking of judgments, how many plaintiffs will want to put this kind of case to a jury trial? Might take a good look at Family Law Prof's Hope Cheating Spouse's Lover is Rich and especially the comment. I think that comment represents what will be the general reaction of your typical juror.
   

Yes, the idea is interesting but it is not a good idea.

Talk to Lawyer Day - Anderson and Madison County

Talk to Lawyer Day is 1/18 at Mounds Mall, during the day. I will be there 10 am - noon. This is free. Please feel free to pass this information along to anyone who might benefit.

Is This a Trend? Publicizing Visitation Problems Online?

Some may notice that I am now on Twitter - there is a feed from my Twitter posts in the sidebar. Others may not know what is Twitter - I tend to think of it as online chat on steroids. People opt in to follow what one writes.

One person following me goes by the name of wiferevolution. And what does wiferevolution write about? The problems that their new husbands have in enforcing their visitation rights. Although just starting out, they have the potential to reach millions.

here we go with the ex and her exchange drama. Why can't she just obey #court orders. #fathers_rights #divorce #child_custody 2:52 AM Jan 6th from web

So will publicity change how people behave? Maybe. I doubt that the ex-wives complained of in their tweets and on their blog will do anything to change their ways unless they get named. That means loss of wiferevolution's privacy.

Some day, someone will start naming names. Naming the parties, the lawyers, the judges and so on. Yes, that will move the tawdriness and the fighting out of the relative anonymity of the real world into the openness of the Internet. I can see a great deal of ugliness, probably some defamation litigation, but maybe also some benefits in that people will start thinking more about their behavior. No, it will not be cure all - some people will not care what anyone thinks.

As I write this, I have in mind a case coming up later this week. Opposing counsel and I have made every effort to get the mother to follow the visitation order. The parties agreed to mediation and everything went fine - for about a week. Saying my client is terribly frustrated is an understatement. His frustration only compounds my own - until a judge finally hears the case, there is nothing more for me to do. The idea that publicity would shame her into better behavior appeals to me. I suspect that wiferevolution finds writing about the ex-wife problems releases some of the frustration. I think that my client would find the same release, through a similar outlet, if he had the time.

Contemplating a Divorce? Be Prepared!

When I started this blog,I did not think of its potential for preventive law. Most lawyers dream of being able to help prevent legal messes rather than just cleaning them up. You will find that I am going to keep noting articles that help educate you on how to be prepared for a case.

Minnesota Divorce & Family Law Blog has a very good list in its Staying Ahead of the Curve: 12 Proactive Steps To Take If You Are Contemplating Divorce

To help avoid the mess, we've assembled a list of 12 things you should gather to ensure that you have all of critical information in hand before your spouse has a chance to conceal, transfer or sell items. These include obtaining:

1. Copies of financial statements;
2. Copies of tax returns;
3. Copies of computer hard drives;
4. Copies of insurance policies;
5. Copies of wills and/or trusts;
6. Inventory of safety deposit boxes, with a witness;
7. Copies of deeds and/or titles to real property;
8. Copies of small business ledgers, financial journals, payroll, sales tax returns and expense account records;
9. Copies of appraisals for art, antiques, jewelry and collectibles;
10. Record the contents of each room in your home through video;
11. Copies of retirement account statements; and
12. Copies of your spouse's pay stubs for the last few months.

Investing some time in gathering these items will ensure that your spouse cannot take advantage of you during the divorce process. The denial of the existence of an asset is a fraud upon the Court. Once your spouse knows that we have all of the key information in hand, they are far less likely to engage in bad faith conduct and be honest in their disclosures throughout the process.

Read that last paragraph carefully as it explains why being prepared is a good thing.

Madison County Children in The Middle Seminar - 1/10 -4/10

The Children in The Middle Seminar schedule for January through April of this year is here.

madison county children in the middle seminar 1-20010 to 4-1-2010

Overview of Indiana Divorce, Annulment and Separation Law

Has Google widening what its searches find or is more stuff getting put online? I noticed an American Bar Association publication on Indiana Separation, Divorce and Annulment law under Google Docs. A good deal more formal than my Indiana Divorce Manual but still more calculated for the non-lawyer. Give it a read - and then for more detail come back here.

Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines Cases and Google Scholar

Yesterday I decided to see what Google Scholar has to offer and to combine it with another project - collecting the case law for the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines. Using the query "Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines", I got the following (after eliminating the not-for-publication cases and those that just mention the IPTG without discussing them).

So far I am far more impressed than when I first heard that Google was cataloging appellate court opinions. The results show not only the West citation but the internal pagination. (For non-lawyers that means citations can be made to the exact page as the West Reporter). There is also citator (can anyone say a free Shepard's?)

Downsides are three: 1) no headnotes and the results page is not overly helpful; 2) if you base your research on the West Key Numbers then you are very much out of luck; and 3) it is not clear how far back we can get opinions. When I tried to find a 1917 case (Ellingham v. Dye), I got a citation to the case but not the case itself.

On the other hand, not sure that these downsides outweigh the benefits and being free.

Note that this was a pretty simple search - there are options for advanced searching that should be looked at for a more complex search.

Let us get to the results. Where the case discusses a particular section of the Parenting Time Guidelines, I have put the reference in parenthesis.

1. 2009

2. 2008
   

3. 2007

   1. Tompa v. Tompa, 867 NE 2d 158 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2007 (preamble, flexibility)

4. 2006

   1. Beaman v. Beaman, 844 NE 2d 525 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2006 (See Ind. Parenting Time Guidelines, Scope of Application, 2 )

   2. Shelton v. Shelton, 840 NE 2d 835 - Ind: Supreme Court 2006 ( section I(C)(3) )

   3. Shelton v. Shelton, 835 NE 2d 513 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2005 ( section I(C)(3) )

5. 2005

   1. In re Paternity of GRB, 829 NE 2d 114 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2005 (I(D)(4), mid-week )

6. 2004

   1. AGR ex rel. Conflenti v. Huff, 815 NE 2d 120 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2004

   2. MacLafferty v. MacLafferty, 811 NE 2d 450 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2004

7. 2003

   1. Malicoat v. Wolf, 792 NE 2d 89 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2003 (Indiana Parenting Time Guideline I.E.3 )

   2. In re Paternity of KRH, 784 NE 2d 985 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2003

8. 2002

   1. Haley v. Haley, 771 NE 2d 743 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2002

9. 2001

   1. Kaplan v. Cunningham, 757 NE 2d 1026 - Ind: Court of Appeals 2001 (Guideline 1 & modification)

10. 2000

11. 1999

About the pagination, read Legal Research on Google Chrome

The other extension is called Google Scholar Legal Content Star Paginator. Without this extension, cases on Google Scholar display each page number to the left of the line in which the page begins. By contrast, with the extension, the page number goes immediately prior to the first word of the page. Of course, careful researchers should check the source material to be sure that the paging is accurate. Nevertheless, this extension should be appealing to researchers doing initial searches for case law on Google Scholar. The extension’s developer indicates how to integrate star paging on other browsers; but installing it on Google Chrome requires no instruction other than clicking an “Install” button.

I read this post as referring to the extension creating pagination conflicts.

E-Marriage - Coming Trend

MLive.com published MSU law profs say e-marriages expand couple's rights raises all kind of issues about citizenship and federalism to make me categorize this as a pipe-dream but maybe not.

A Boston couple wanting to wed under Louisiana's covenant marriage law, or two New Orleans women seeking to wed in Massachusetts should be able to do so without leaving home, two law professors say.

Michigan State University's Adam Candeub and Mae Kuykendall have started the Legal E-Marriage Project, a clearinghouse for legislative proposals to establish "e-marriages."

"According to the team, the proposal refutes suggestions the state should get out of the marriage business and has the potential to alter the landscape of marriage culture wars," Michigan State law school spokeswoman Katie Gallagher wrote on the school's Web site.

Candeub and Kuykendall said states should let couples marry under the laws of whatever place they chose.

File this as one my less practical posts.

Judges Speaking Out on Unbundling Legal Services

The New York Times published A Nation of Do-It-Yourself Lawyers written by judges on the subject of unbundling legal services. The judges describe what is meant by unbundled legal services and why it is a good thing in these paragraphs:

But this is only a beginning. It is essential that we promote other efforts to close the “justice gap.”

One such effort involves the “unbundling” of legal services. Forty-one states, including California and New Hampshire, have adopted a model rule drafted by the American Bar Association, or similar provisions, which allow lawyers to unbundle their services and take only part of a case, a cost-saving practice known as “limited-scope representation” that, with proper ethical safeguards, is responsive to new realities.

Traditionally, lawyers have been required to stay with a case from beginning to end, unless a court has excused them from this obligation. Now, in those states that explicitly or implicitly allow unbundling, people or businesses can hire a lawyer on a limited basis to help them fill out forms, to prepare documents, to coach them on how to present in court or to appear in court for one or two hearings.

I have written about unbundling legal services here and here. Responses to these articles have been nil.

I belong to a lawyers listerv where the subject of alternative fees and unbundling legal services comes up fairly often. We see this as the future of legal services, as empowering clients.

What seems to be truer is that the vast majority of clients show no interest in knowing about alternative fees or unbundling legal services. They watch television and hear about hourly fees and anything else confuses them. Until we educate clients about fees and their alternatives, the future seen by the New York judges remains out of reach and I think client frustration shall continue and may even increase.

Everyone, please, follow the link below to my older attorney fees articles and educate yourself.

Reading Family Lore's Divorce joins baked beans on the supermarket shelves makes me think the English have found a business model for providing unbundled services.

For the first time divorcing couples will be able to compare on one website a range of options from both the cheap online providers, as well as more traditional family law firms. Prices range from a DIY divorce at £69, up to a full solicitor managed divorce for £249.

I am not sure that I like what I think I see in the plan. That it might not provide the best services may not mean much in this current economy, but will clients miss what they do not know about? Do we need not to find a better way to educate clients about fees on this side of the Atlantic?

Court Files, Court Records and Getting Them

Call this a reactionary post. Me reacting to Endangered Fathers' Different Uses Of Divorce Records with that is not so for Indiana.

Divorce records are maintained by the vital records department or in the health statistics department. Any person wishing to access these records may do so by placing a request with the concerned department holding the information. They can also obtain copies of the records which are uncertified copies if you are not one of the concerned parties in the divorce. Only concerned parties in the divorce can obtain a certified copy of the divorce certificate

No - our court records are keep by our county clerks.

No - you go to the county clerk, tell them the cause number and they get the file for you. (Excepting Marion and Hamilton Counties).

I got to say that I do not for certain about uncertified records being all a non-party can get - never had to deal with the issue.

The rest of the article raised similar problems for me. It is my standard operating procedure to give clients copies of everything. Fire and flood may get some but there should be no ordinary reason for one of my clients to need to go to the county clerk to get a copy of their file. Which is one of two reasons I have problems with this paragraph:

These records can help the individual ensure that the divorce has legally occurred. In many cases of uncontested divorces, the respondent party may not be aware of the settlement of the divorce. A divorce record helps in proving that the divorce has been finalized in the Court of Law.

Noooooooooooooooo. Here we get a Decree of Dissolution from a judge that is signed and sealed. We give it to the client. That same Decree goes out to the opposing party where there is a uncontested divorce. Also, our Chronological Case Summaries are mailed out to the parties who do not have lawyers. For all my grousing about Indiana, I cannot imagine a court system where a party is not aware of a case's end.

And in the context of Indiana, this just sounds bizarre:

When a person intends to marry again after a divorce, the divorce certificates should be provided to legally allow the person to remarry. It also helps resolve issues arising in the care of children born out of the marriage where divorce has taken place. A woman intending to change her name that carries the surname of the ex-husband can do so by providing these records.

If those problems were not enough to drive you crazy, a larger one looms. The Indiana Law Blog published Ind. Courts - "Indiana courts moving toward unified records system: But private firm pushes competing setup" Part I and here are what seem the choice bits:

That (excluding the "Part I") is the headline to a lengthy story today by Harold J. Adams of the Louisville Courier Journal. It begins:

After nine years and $51million spent, Indiana is progressing toward a statewide computer system that may eventually connect the records of all the state's 401 courts to each other, other state agencies and the public.

That would allow anyone with Internet access to check the history and status of any court case anywhere in the state. It would also give judges and attorneys a quick way to determine whether someone in their local court has had a role in other cases elsewhere.

But the move toward a single system isn't without its wrinkles. Even though the state system is free to counties, another vendor already handles court records for more than half of Indiana's 92 counties and is fighting to keep that business — and add more. * * *

Indiana's Odyssey system is run by the Indiana Supreme Court through the Judicial Technology and Automation Committee, known as JTAC and headed by Sullivan. The state wants to replace what Sullivan says is a mishmash of 23 different electronic case management systems in use across the state with a single, unified system.

“I and the members of our court — and I think most Indiana judges — are of the view that we would be much better off if all Indiana courts were using the same case management system,” Sullivan said. * * *

But while some counties are eager to connect to Odyssey, others have declared they won't participate.

Kosciusko County Clerk Jason McSherry wants no part of the statewide system.

“From a taxpayer standpoint, I don't have a lot of faith in anything the state or government runs,” McSherry said. “I think they ought to let the private sector take care of that.”

(Er, has no one informed the Kosciusko County Clerk that she is part of the government?).

I take the view that the legal system belongs to the citizens and since our tax dollars help fund it, then the information in and about those courts should be freely available without anyone making a profit off of what was created with our tax dollars.

More importantly, this article may make clear to everyone that no state wide data exists about our legal system but remains pretty much bound up in the county courthouses. In some ways not much different than in 1816 or 1851 or 1973. Think about that for a while.

(Since i derafted this post, The Indiana Lawyer published Harrison County joins Odyssey.)