After several months of preparations, on May 26, 2011 the Jefferson County District Court Post Decree Domestic Relations Clinic was launched. I had worked in conjunction with Retired District Court Judge Charlie Hoppin, the Jefferson County Family Court Facilitator, Kristin Kreitemeyer and several of the other Magistrates and Judges in Jefferson County on the materials and outline for the clinic. Over a dozen people attended the first meeting and another dozen attended on June 30, 2011 for the second. The clinic shall take place on the last Thursday of each month in Courtroom 1A at the Jefferson County Courthouse.

The topics that the clinic covers are post decree motions to (a) modify the allocation of parental responsibilities, (b) modify parenting time, (c) modify child support, and (d) to prosecute or defend a contempt citation. The purpose of the clinic is not to advise the attendees on their specific cases, but to provide them with a procedural basis for pursuing their motions on their own. Of course in the course of the presentations, what I have found so far is that it is impossible to completely avoid answering specific questions about the facts on the attendees’ cases. I have tried to direct the questions and answers to more generic and hypothetical situations as much as possible, but there is some case specific discussion.

While it has only been in operation for two months, the clinic seems to be succeeding in its goals and I believe that it will continue to grow as we move forward and gain more experience with it. For future classes we have added attorney Robin Beattie as a sometime presenter. Both Judge Hoppin and I will continue to present at the clinic as well.
 

Please contact Andrew D. Haas at 303-384-9228 to discuss any of your legal needs regarding domestic relations/family law.