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Judges try to close loophole
NWI Times
Nov 4, 1996
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/judges-try-to-close-loophole/article_cfe71cd2-f47c-5c3d-9352-fdc735fcaa3d.html
VALPARAISO - Porter County judges are moving to fine-tune the new program for guardians ad litem.
A three-page document establishes guidelines for the appointment, qualifications, duties, administration and implementation of guardian ad litem services.
Among them is the provision that guardians ad litem will receive no compensation, except for expenses subject to court approval.
Porter Circuit Court Judge Raymond Kickbush said the court is working to prevent losing attorneys who may be disenchanted now that they will be asked to provide the service without pay.
Kickbush will seek a change in state court rules that will permit attorneys to earn continuing education credit by acting as a guardian ad litem on a pro bono basis.
Attorneys currently are required to earn 36 hours of continuing education credit every three years.
"What better way for younger lawyers to gain experience than get involved in divorce proceedings and save the counties money?" Kickbush said.
"Unless incentives are there, we're going to lose a lot of lawyers," Kickbush said about the guidelines the court adopted in establishing a guardian ad litem program.
Nevertheless Kickbush said the change "is a good plan for the community in which we live."
"Once we are made aware that a need exists, (the community) will respond," Kickbush said. "I have proof in the CASA (court-appointed special advocate) program."
The CASA program is composed of some 60 volunteers who work with abused and neglected children who come under court jurisdiction. The program is operated by the Youth Service Bureau.
In divorce court, however, only Beatrice Lightfoot of Burns Harbor, a non-attorney, volunteers her services.
Until the county's judges signed a new court rule last week, attorneys were paid out of a court budget if parents were not able to pay for their services.
Even so, there appeared to be less than a dozen attorneys willing to perform the service at an hourly rate of $75 an hour.
If the state rule is approved, Porter Superior Court Judge Nancy Vaidik said the judges are considering a 12-hour continuing education program already in existence in Lake County to entice more attorneys to volunteer.
In considering the local rule approved last week, Vaidik said the judges considered various ways to compensate both attorney and non-attorney guardians ad litem.
A volunteer system was the only plan that seemed both fair to families and economical to the county, according to Vaidik.
With attorneys and non-attorneys randomly named to three-person panels from which each parent may strike a name, it would amount to "the luck of the draw if a person would be paid," according to Vaidik.
"We don't have enough money in the budget to pay for the lawyers' services every time," Vaidik said.
"We ended up with this," she said. "We are worried we might not get attorneys to volunteer for free, so we're talking about building in incentives."
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