HB134: relative to recommendations, appointments, and qualifications of marital masters and procedures for cases heard by marital masters.

HB 134-FN - AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

25mar03... 0477h

2003 SESSION

03-0080

09/10

HOUSE BILL 134-FN

AN ACT relative to recommendations, appointments, and qualifications of marital masters and procedures for cases heard by marital masters.

SPONSORS: Rep. Elliott, Hills 42; Rep. Dionne, Hills 42; Rep. Wall Straf 72; Rep. Rowe, Hills 47; Rep. Boyce, Belk 31; Sen. Boyce, Dist 4; Sen. Roberge, Dist 9; Sen. Sapareto, Dist 19

COMMITTEE: Judiciary

ANALYSIS

This bill requires marital masters to be recommended by the supreme court and appointed by the governor and council and establishes certain qualifications and a course requirement for marital masters.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

25mar03... 0477h

03-0080

09/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Three

AN ACT relative to recommendations, appointments, and qualifications of marital masters and procedures for cases heard by marital masters.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Findings and Purpose.

I. The legislature finds that:

(a) The federal funding source for marital masters prohibits marital masters from being judicial officers of the court.

(b) Marital masters are supervised by the judicial branch and have a close working relationship with the judicial branch. Therefore, marital masters should be recommended for appointment by the judicial branch, and appointed as specified in this act.

II. The purpose of this act is to recognize the delicate balance between the appointing executive branch and the recommending judicial branch in administering the marital master program and to recognize the importance of the role of marital masters in the state court system by establishing the marital master program in the statutes.

2 New Subdivision; Marital Masters; Recommendations, Appointments and Procedures. Amend RSA 491 by inserting after section 20 the following new subdivision:

Marital Masters

491:20-a Nominations and Appointments.

I. The supreme court shall recommend persons to the governor and council for appointment and reappointment as marital masters. In recommending candidates for appointment and reappointment as marital masters, the court shall utilize the procedures and standards described in supreme court rules except as otherwise provided.

II. When the court nominates a marital master for reappointment, the court shall submit to the governor and council, 90 days prior to the end of the marital master's term, the name of the marital master and all evaluations of the marital master's performance in his or her current term. The judicial conduct commission shall make available to the governor and council all judicial conduct disciplinary reports of such marital master. The governor and council's decision whether to reappoint the marital master shall be based on satisfactory performance during the current term. If the governor and council do not reappoint the marital master, the governor and council shall notify the court and the court shall recommend 3 persons for appointment as marital master.

III. For appointments of new marital masters, the court shall submit to the governor the names of 3 candidates. The governor and council shall appoint a candidate nominated by the court or may reject the list submitted by the court, and request a new list.

IV. Marital masters shall serve an initial term of 3 years. Subsequent reappointments shall be for a term of 5 years.

491:20-b Qualifications.

I. Marital masters shall possess the following qualifications:

(a) Professional experience in family law matters.

(b) Legal and personal qualities including, but not limited to:

(1) Knowledge of family matters, including related matters such as tax and pension law;

(2) Personal maturity so as to understand and make decisions on matters before the court; and

(3) Personal qualities of patience and understanding of the difficult personal matters which are the subject of divorce and a willingness to deal with complex family matters in a non-adversarial manner.

II. Each marital master shall complete a course in court process and procedures, mediation and negotiation, and both male and female gender bias.

491:20-c Proceedings. In proceedings heard by marital masters:

I. No party shall pay a fee additional to court filing fees.

II. The marital master shall give notice to the parties at the beginning of the proceeding that he or she is a marital master and not a judge.

3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2004.

LBAO

03-0080

11/27/02

HB 134-FN - FISCAL NOTE

AN ACT relative to recommendations, appointments, and qualifications of marital masters and procedures for cases heard by marital masters.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The Judicial Branch has determined this bill will increase state general fund expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2004 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local expenditures or state, county and local revenues.

METHODOLOGY:

The Judicial Branch stated three aspects of this bill have a fiscal impact.

· The educational component of this bill. The Branch assumes sending one marital master per year to the courses listed at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada would cost approximately $3,000 per year.

· The requirement that marital masters wear distinguishing robes. Robes cost $300 each. There are eleven marital masters. The Branch assumes eleven new robes would be bought in the first year and one per year thereafter. This will result in increased expenditures in FY 2004 of $3,300 and $300 each year thereafter.

· The provision for hearings before a superior court judge on the financial aspects of a case where a party claims to have less than a minimum standard of living following a decision by a marital master. The Branch is unable to determine the exact fiscal impact of this provision. The Branch has stated they are unable to determine how many hearings will be held, and if the hearings are a review of the record before the master or can the parties re-litigate before the judge. Because of these unknowns, the Branch prepared a matrix showing the fiscal impact of these additional hearings at different numbers of hearings and different average hearing length. The matrix projects the cost at 500 case intervals from 500 cases to 3000 cases. For the average length of hearings, one, two and four hours are used.

The following assumptions were made:

· Based on calendar year 2001 data, there are 14,734 cases annually involving financial issues (6,873 new entries and 50% of 15,722 re-entries).

· Marital masters hear approximately 70% of these cases, or 10,314.

LBAO

03-0080

11/27/02

Page 2

· Therefor, 10,314 cases are assumed eligible annually for rehearing before a judge on the financial aspects of the case.

· The cost of a hearing assumed to be $126.73 per hour. This includes judge, court monitor, deputy clerk and bailiff time.

· Each case receiving an additional hearing will require one-half hour of processing time by a court assistant II at $15.73 per hour.

· Hourly costs include benefits.

· Based on the above assumptions the Branch estimates the cost after the first year will range from a low of $67,300 annually at 500 hearings averaging one hour each, to a high of $1,547,670 at 3,000 additional hearings averaging four hours each.

· The number of judges needed to conduct the hearings range from .2564 per year for 500 hearings averaging one hour each, to a high of 6.1538 per year for 3,000 additional averaging four hours each.