$35 for MBA members | $55 non-members
In 2022, the Washington County Local Family Law Advisory Committee convened a work group to study the issue of multiple conflicting orders regarding parental contact in various court proceedings. This work group (Competing Orders Workgroup) resolved to discuss how our community could better address issues of parental contact when there are allegations or charges concerning domestic violence and a family is suddenly faced with a domestic relations order that is different from a restraining order that is different from pre-trial release conditions (criminal no contact), that is different from orders entered in juvenile cases. It is often confusing for parents to navigate these conflicting orders resulting in unintended violations, abrupt changes in parental contact and even primary care, and inefficiency in a court system that prefers to have a “one judge, one family” policy.
The group studied the issue for two years and made recommendations to the Washington County Circuit Court Presiding Judge that were adopted by PJO 353, which creates an expedited hearing process that will assign one judge to hear matters concerning contact with minor children in the context of a pre-trial criminal proceeding where there are one or more civil orders concerning contact with the same child. Washington County Circuit Court Judge Kelly Lemarr; Ronald Ridehalgh, Ridehalgh & Associates LLC; and Gina Skinner, Washington County District Attorney's Office, will cover the following: