Family Department Caseload

I. Family Department Caseload

Table 1 through Table 3 show what the caseload for the proposed family court would have been from fiscal year 1992 through fiscal year 1994 beginning with the latest year first. The tables differentiate the casetypes by their current court of origin.

Of the family department cases currently filed in the district court, not all are included in the tables. The district court information system does not tabulate cases in all of the casetypes proposed for the family department. The omitted cases are in relatively small categories, but the accumulation of even small numbers of cases could result in a significant workload impact. There is no possibility of capturing the omitted casetypes in the current information system. The omitted casetypes are:

• Adult protective services
• Services to people with disabilities
• Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act
• Child habeas corpus petitions
• Legal/medical issues
• Modify birth certificate

Petitions to modify a divorce decree and orders to show cause to enforce custody, visitation or support are not counted as separate casetypes because they occur as post-judgment activity in a dissolution or paternity case.

Of the family department cases currently filed in the juvenile court, all are included in Table 1 through Table 3. The tables count the number of referrals unless a case by-passes the referral stage and is initiated by a petition. The courts use referrals in the juvenile court as the closest counterpart to filings in the district court.

Some of the cases that the task force has identified as casetypes have historically been counted in the juvenile court under the collection of matters entitled "Administrative and Post-judgment," which is shown in the last row of each table. This collection of matters does not distinguish between cases that necessarily follow another case (For example, a petition to terminate parental rights follows a petition and adjudication of child abuse or neglect.) and procedures within the original case (for example, a warrant or motion). Some of the items included in this category require judge time, others do not. Historically, the juvenile court has not included administrative and post-judgment matters in its judicial work load figures. The category is shown here for information purposes only. This report does not rely upon the administrative and post-judgment category for any caseload calculations.

Casetypes identified by the task force for inclusion in the family department that are found in the category "Administrative and Post-judgment" are:

• Civil mental commitment of a minor
• Termination of parental rights
• Guardianship and conservatorship of a minor
• Judicial consent for marriage, employment, and enlistment
• Modify birth certificate 
• Interstate compact

Table 1 through Table 3 show a tend of increasing family law caseloads. In each of the eight judicial districts, district court filings and juvenile court referrals have increased in each of the three years reported.

Table 1. Estimated Family Court Caseload Fiscal Year 1993 - 1994

	Judicial District
Casetype	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
District Court Filings
Custody and Support	13	48	106	77	9	14	23	3	293
Separate Maintenance	28	11	27	16	5	3	0	0	90
Divorce / Annulment	579	2,418	5,811	1,488	623	272	295	218	11,704
Cohabitant Abuse	213	990	1,618	219	187	54	198	111	3,590
URESA	9	318	491	734	48	72	15	0	1,687
Name Change	23	90	256	77	28	22	12	9	517
Adoption	93	300	603	228	74	14	31	29	1,372
Guardian / Conservatorship	107	280	619	297	111	24	26	18	1,482
Paternity	52	619	1,522	449	92	55	218	108	3,115
Total District	1,117	5,074	11,053	3,585	1,177	530	818	496	23,850
Juvenile Court Referrals
Felony	325	1,130	3,373	891	378	204	184	163	6,648
Misdemeanor	1,611	5,855	13,902	4,904	1,815	869	1,072	695	30,723
Infractions	98	441	697	607	115	65	51	76	2,150
Status	662	1,594	3,603	1,565	691	205	209	283	8,812
Traffic	39	105	201	118	31	45	20	23	582
Abuse / Neglect / Dependency	69	557	1,665	200	60	39	90	89	2,769
Adult Violations	13	30	11	16	18	5	18	2	113
Total Juvenile	2,817	9,712	23,452	8,301	3,108	1,432	1,644	1,331	51,797
Total District and Juvenile	3,934	14,786	34,505	11,886	4,285	1,962	2,462	1,827	75,647
Juv. Admin & Post-Jgmt	928	4,208	6,466	3,173	1,414	929	747	611	18,476

Table 2. Estimated Family Court Caseload Fiscal Year 1992 - 1993

	Judicial District
Casetype	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
District Court Filings
Custody and Support	14	39	68	26	11	1	11	3	173
Separate Maintenance	5	20	36	10	1	0	1	0	73
Divorce / Annulment	541	2,500	5,424	1,521	570	268	268	242	11,334
Cohabitant Abuse	159	884	1,090	203	135	19	138	76	2,704
URESA	11	439	529	657	57	44	5	5	1,747
Name Change	20	86	238	57	21	1	4	3	430
Adoption	78	290	522	203	74	11	16	23	1,217
Guardian / Conservatorship	78	303	500	195	84	16	29	13	1,218
Paternity	69	817	1,322	382	63	21	128	81	2,883
Total District	975	5,378	9,729	3,254	1,016	381	600	446	21,779
Juvenile Court Referrals
Felony	294	1080	3309	840	363	160	212	187	6,445
Misdemeanor	1,521	5,870	12,928	4,647	1,736	781	1,027	622	29,132
Infractions	133	458	734	686	79	83	73	60	2,306
Status	660	1,276	3,324	1,598	642	196	239	258	8,193
Traffic	118	259	361	251	71	112	71	53	1,296
Abuse / Neglect / Dependency	55	642	1,667	229	72	57	103	67	2,892
Adult Violations	16	29	29	23	12	7	23	2	141
Total Juvenile	2,797	9,614	22,352	8,274	2,975	1,396	1,748	1,249	50,405
Total District and Juvenile	3,772	14,992	32,081	11,528	3,991	1,777	2,348	1,695	72,184
Juv. Admin & Post-Jgmt	916	4,284	6,675	3,061	1,380	832	758	508	18,414

Table 3. Estimated Family Court Caseload Fiscal Year 1991 - 1992

	Judicial District
Casetype	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
District Court Filings
Custody and Support	11	25	65	26	13	4	1	10	155
Separate Maintenance	4	21	28	1	1	0	0	1	56
Divorce / Annulment	548	2,499	5,452	1,490	552	234	290	175	11,240
Cohabitant Abuse	154	786	28	144	70	15	65	58	1,320
URESA	11	573	862	545	58	24	4	2	2,079
Name Change	14	65	213	59	14	3	9	2	379
Adoption	72	299	606	220	52	8	13	18	1,288
Guardian / Conservatorship	54	256	476	217	67	14	12	11	1,107
Paternity	52	762	1,171	426	28	5	104	60	2,608
Total District	920	5,286	8,901	3,128	855	307	498	337	20,232
Juvenile Court Referrals
Felony	363	956	2,838	697	326	185	246	113	5,724
Misdemeanor	1,557	6,147	13,161	4,441	1,749	589	1,010	523	29,177
Infractions	100	529	619	519	72	124	86	28	2,077
Status	533	985	2,506	1,189	534	168	203	267	6,385
Traffic	107	272	357	218	104	111	61	53	1,283
Abuse / Neglect / Dependency	55	562	1,567	275	54	45	97	77	2,732
Adult Violations	8	15	32	28	14	5	16	7	125
Total Juvenile	2,723	9,466	21,080	7,367	2,853	1,227	1,719	1,068	47,503
Total District and Juvenile	3,643	14,752	29,981	10,495	3,708	1,534	2,217	1,405	67,735
Juv. Admin & Post-Jgmt	998	4,972	11,512	3,877	1,587	636	817	718	25,117

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