NOW - NEW YORK STATE OPPOSE MEMO
Merging Family Court and Supreme
Court
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The National Organization for Women-New York State, Inc. opposes the restructuring
of the court system as proposed by Chief Judge Judith Kaye and endorsed by
Governor Eliot Spitzer in his state of the state address. As stated by our
new Governor, “First we must reform our state’s sprawling judicial
system….In the coming weeks, I will submit a Constitutional amendment…to
consolidate and integrate our balkanized courts.” The proposal includes
the merging of Family Court with the Supreme Court. The National Organization
for Women-New York State, Inc. stands fiercely opposed to this proposal because
of extreme negative ramifications for women’s legal rights.
The stated aim of this court merger is to reduce judicial backlog and inefficiencies;
however this streamlining of the courts will restrict access to the courts
to poor women and their children. Family Court is a unique branch of the New
York State court system geared to serve women and children, and thus must not
be simply fused with other courts or relegated to status as a division of another
court.
Family Court is the court for women and their children who have no money for
attorneys’ fees. It is the place to go for Orders of Protection, custody
orders, child support and maintenance, all without the need to hire an attorney.
When questioned, legislators did not know what would happen to poor women
if Family Court were eliminated as a separate entity. Would poor women have
access to the court system without hiring an attorney? It seems as if this
issue was never considered, and as far as we know is still in question.
It is interesting to note that the only court not being integrated into the
consolidated court system is the Surrogates Court. The rationale is that “special
expertise” is needed for that court. Surely no less special expertise
is needed for the handling of family court cases.
If we were cynical we might think that one of the main purposes of court merger
is to reduce inefficiencies in the court system by eliminating this easy access
to Family Court by women and children without attorneys. There are issues of
overlapping, with cases being brought to multiple courts, but surely there
are ways to consolidate these cases. The solution should not be to eliminate
Family Court.
The National Organization for Women-New York State Inc. represents over 40,000
members and supporters. On behalf of our supporters and women in New York State,
we urge Governor Spitzer and the NYS Legislature not to consolidate the Family
and Supreme Courts.
Marcia A. Pappas, President, NOW-NYS, Inc.
Gloria Jacobs, Esq., Chair, Domestic Relations Law Task Force
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