March 19, 2014 by Robert Franklin, Esq.
In Connecticut, the masses are “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” And family law elites are scared, as they ought to be. First check out this op-ed in the Connecticut Law Tribune by father and portfolio manager, Peter Szymonik (Connecticut Law Tribune, 3/6/14). He’s a long-time advocate for family court reform in the state. He’s knowledgeable, articulate and not a happy camper.
The incident that triggered the very public display of anger on the part of parents and uneasy defense by the child custody industry was a vote in the state legislature on whether to reappoint family judge Leslie Olear to another term as judge. It’s the legislature’s responsibility to do that and, when her name came up, parents descended on Hartford demanding her ouster. They failed, but the vote was close, 78-67.
Too close for comfort, apparently, because the vote spawned this nervously indignant response by an (interestingly) anonymous writer (Connecticut Law Tribune, 3/13/14). As is so often the case, the comments to the op-ed are far more intelligent, balanced and apt than the op-ed itself, but more on that in my next piece.
The nut of the matter is the guardian ad litem system in child custody matters. From the outside looking in, it appears that Connecticut family judges have too much work to do, so they appoint GALs to effectively decide child custody for them. Unfortunately, the GAL business looks rigged. Judges appoint their cronies whose competency and fees are neither regulated nor overseen by anyone. Unsurprisingly, GALs pad their fees in extortionate ways and the parents are the ones to pay. True, they didn’t ask for the GAL to be appointed and he/she may have performed incompetently, but the parents still have to pay. If they don’t, they go to jail. Into the bargain, they can’t even sue the GAL for malpractice. GALs are immune from civil liability for their work as GALs.
In short, the GAL system in Connecticut is a racket. Parents have no choice about whether to take part, they can’t choose their GAL, they can’t control the costs which they have to pay regardless of everything, the GAL can act incompetently without any form of recourse by parents and whatever the GAL does is rubberstamped by the judge.
Who in the world – apart from the GALS themselves – would support a system like that? Not Peter Szymonik.
In this state, we have allowed a very small group of family law attorneys and GALs to directly and adversely impact family court operations in a manner designed to personally enrich them at the expense of parents and families…
Our state’s GALs are almost exclusively family law attorneys who enjoy complete immunity and been granted quasi-judicial authority – this is not common elsewhere in the country. Our GALs are not held to any standard of performance or excellence and they are not licensed or monitored. They are allowed to bill with impunity with the expected results. GALs in this state legally trump a parent’s right to be a parent as soon as they are assigned to case. These individuals are allowed to make life-altering decisions directly impacting children and families as judges routinely outsource their judicial authority to them – for the entire life of a case and child. This is misguided, unethical and simply wrong.
But it’s not one op-ed, however well-informed, just and passionate the writer is, that’s gotten the child custody industry so scared. No, it’s a little thing that’s elsewhere called “We the People.”
This vote (on Olear’s reappointment) came after scores of parents, adult children of divorce, grandparents, attorneys and business executives testified until the early morning hours in front of a task force in January, after more than 630 parents signed a petition demanding legislative reforms of the family court’s broken guardian ad litem (GAL) system, and after legislators were inundated with thousands of complaints about our family courts from parents, as consumers of the family court system’s services…
What legislators heard (and responded to) were complaints about children being arbitrarily separated from their parents and parents forced to pay for supervised visitations to see them. Parents being jailed for not being able to pay outlandish GAL fees. Parents losing their homes and jobs and being ordered to liquidate their retirement accounts and children’s college funds. This same scenario has become the operational norm in our family courts, not one only associated with a small number of "high-conflict cases."
In short, what people in Connecticut are angry about isn’t just the shake-down system of GAL appointments, but the family law system generally. That’s a system that converts what is usually a fairly simple matter into a legal donnybrook. Child custody cases should be resolved by presuming that parents are fit to care for their youngsters. Parenting time should be presumed to be equal, but with parents being able to decide something different based on their own wishes and other legitimate demands on their time.
But family courts do their best to exacerbate the conflict that already exists in the large majority of divorce cases. This ups attorneys’ fees and those of whoever else happens to be involved such as GALs, custody evaluators, psychologists and the like. No-conflict cases don’t pay very well; high-conflict ones are a divorce lawyer’s dream. Are there scrupulous family lawyers who attempt to ameliorate conflict in their clients’ interests and children’s? There are. But, when there’s a pot of money and all a lawyer or GAL has to do is dip a hand in, far too many don’t resist. Money yields corruption. ‘Twas ever thus.
For now, the family law bar is responding by the tried-and-true methods; they’re appointing financially interested stakeholders to task forces that supposedly study the problem. And of course they’re trying to shift blame.
Along with many others, I attended and watched the recent hearings of a task force assigned to study the costs of custody cases. [President of the Connecticut Bar Association Kimberly] Knox did not. This task force failed its legislative mandate as it was chaired by two "full-time GALs" who blocked every effort by other task force members to collect and analyze meaningful financial cost and operational metrics data related to custody cases. This may explain why many legislators have little faith in what the task force ultimately recommended.
Parents in Connecticut are demanding an end to the stranglehold on family courts maintained by the family law bar. Far too many have been abused, tossed out of their kids’ lives and bankrupted by a system that is corrupt, unresponsive to any but its own interests and incompetent to promote the best interests of children.
Parents who have suffered for years due to the problems in our family courts are the actual experts and our voices must be heard – not just those of the legal industry. This is the very best way to run a government and court system – for the people, of the people, and by the people.
National Parents Organization is a Shared Parenting Organization
National Parents Organization is a non-profit that educates the public, families, educators, and legislators about the importance of shared parenting and how it can reduce conflict in children, parents, and extended families. Along with Shared Parenting we advocate for fair Child Support and Alimony Legislation. Want to get involved? Here’s how:
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