The Future of the Harris County Family Law Center
On November 6th, Harris County citizens have the opportunity to vote on many important issues. One that I wish to bring to your attention is Proposition No. 5, regarding a bond to fund construction of a new family law courthouse.
Trey Yates, Chair of the Houston Bar Association Family Law Section wrote an outstanding summary of the issue to the members of the Houston Bar Association, which I include below. I urge you to vote on November 6th.
On November 6, the citizens of this county will have the opportunity to vote on several bond proposals, one of which concerns the funding of a new Harris County Family Law Center. I urge you to support the passage of the Harris County bond issue, Proposition No. 5.
The approval of this bond will ensure that Harris County families are no longer forced to resolve family law issues in an overcrowded, outdated and unsafe facility. Virtually every person in this city has been or will be affected, directly or indirectly, by a family dispute resolved in our Family Law court system. The current Harris County Family Law building was completed in 1969 and originally housed three family law courts. Today the same building has nine family district courts each with an elected family law Judge, an associate Judge and a court staff; plus four additional courts each containing judges who handle attorney general child support cases plus a court staff. These judges serve approximately 120,000 litigants per year (1 ½ times the number of Harris County civil courthouse filings and 10,000 more cases per year than the criminal courts). A review of various options determined that remodeling the facility would not be cost-effective due to the inefficient design of the current facility.
Today, attorneys and their clients must discuss complex and confidential case issues in crowded hallways without any privacy, and anyone can access nearly any current or past family case file. Victims of family violence are forced to stand unprotected and in close vicinity to the perpetrators of the violence. In a full courtroom, the victims are seated across a small aisle from their perpetrators, with one bailiff to control a crowded courtroom. Children, while testifying, must face their parents in an adversarial environment.
A new facility would provide the citizens of this county with an updated, state of the art building which will offer the necessary services under one roof, impossible in the current structure. The new facility would have separate entrances for domestic violence victims; improved security; conference rooms to ensure privacy; immediate testing facilities for drug and alcohol testing; separate rooms to allow video testimony by children in a less intimidating environment; and offices for the Harris County Domestic Relations office which offers free court ordered mediations as well as investigations and preparation of social studies in contested custody matters; along with other support facilities. Although these services are currently available to families, they are in separate facilities, making access difficult and more expensive. The new facility will bring these services under one roof, allowing for an efficient and cost effective utilization of services.
Voting “FOR” the Harris County bond issue Proposition 5 on November 6, 2007 will ensure that the current, outdated and sub-par facility is replaced by a new Harris County Family Law Center which is cost-efficient and safer. As with the other Harris County bond issues, there will be no tax increase associated with this bond issue. I urge your support of Proposition 5.
Sincerely,
Sam M. (Trey) Yates, III
Chair, Houston Bar Association Family Law Section
