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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana Supreme Court has amended its requirements on state courts handling eviction proceedings to reflect changes in the court process and resources available to tenants and property owners.
As mandated in an order effective Nov. 1, 2021, any Indiana court overseeing a residential eviction action must advise the parties of statewide pre-eviction diversion resources and specifically ask if the parties are interested in pursuing any of those resources. Now, under an amended order issued Friday, courts must also document that they did advise the parties using the diversion advisement event in the online case management system, Odyssey.
Also, the new order provides an updated list of pre-eviction resources that includes the online legal tool indianalegahelp.org and contacts for the Indiana Community Action Association’s provider network along with the Supreme Court’s free Landlord and Tenant Settlement Conference Program.
Missing from the resource list is emergency rental assistance. In July, the Indiana Emergency Rental Assistance program, which used federal funds to cover past-due rent for Hoosier tenants in danger of losing their residences because of the COVID-19 pandemic, stopped taking applications.
The Friday order provides a model advisement for courts to follow when explaining the resources available.
Finally, the amended order no longer contains the mandate to the Office of Judicial Administration to create training materials and post online resources available to tenants and landlords.
As with the original order, the amended order still requires that an eviction proceeding be stayed for 90 days and all records kept confidential if both parties agree to participate in any resource referenced in the order.
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