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By Magistrate Marie Kern, Marion Superior Court
Marion Superior Court Family Division is growing! With Gov. Eric Holcomb’s appointments of the Honorable Melanie Kendrick and Philip Sheward, the Family Division has added courts D22 and D24, growing the division to seven full-time family courts. These additions are bringing some changes to the current magistrate assignments; Magistrates Scott Stowers and Diane Cowger are moving to D22 with Judge Kendrick, and Magistrates Tara Melton and Jason Reyome move to D24 with Judge Sheward. In addition, Magistrate Sarah Glasser has moved to Probate Court to assist Judge David Certo. Magistrate Joel Schneider and I are teaming up to start a Family Division Initial Hearing Court to better address the juvenile CHINS and delinquency initial hearings. I am also assuming supervision of the Family Facilitation Center and will be working to expand the mediation options and services for families engaged in litigation.
With this court expansion also comes case movement. The existing caseloads for the Family Division were reviewed and reallocation of those cases to evenly distribute them among the seven courts has been completed. Those cases have been reassigned to courts D22 and D24, but you can still e-file under your existing cause and the matter will be routed to the correct court. Parties and counsel may contact D22 staff by emailing [email protected] or calling 317-327-8235. For D24, email [email protected] or call 317-327-8096. Both Judge Kendrick and Judge Sheward and their staffs are working diligently to review those cases transferred to their courts; when possible, they are accommodating any existing hearing dates that were already scheduled, but some changes to hearing dates will likely be needed. If a case was transferred and your court date vacated, please file a request for a new date to be set.
In addition to the Superior Court caseload reallocation, existing juvenile paternity matters filed after Sept. 11 will be reassigned from Marion Circuit Court to the Family Division. The Marion Circuit Court Paternity Division is reducing its magistrate staffing by two and will only be hearing IV-D-related matters moving forward. Any contested custody and parenting time matters will be transferred to the Family Division for future hearing. Approximately 160 active cases have been sent to D22 and D24; again, file any related motions under your existing cause and they will be routed to the correct court for review. If you have a case under advisement with a Paternity Division magistrate, those orders are going to be completed prior to the staffing reduction.
For additional information on the changes to the Family Division, you can head to the Family Law Section pages on the IndyBar website; Family Division Chair Judge Alicia Gooden and I presented a virtual Family Law Court update on Aug. 31. That recording is available under the recent news and is free to view. All the judges and magistrates within the Family Division appreciate your patience and understanding during this time of growth and are confident these changes will serve to increase litigants’ access to timely judicial intervention.•
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