The Supreme Court Advisory Committee on General Rules of Practice has issued its Final Report to the Supreme Court which is attached. As you may know, the Court has already heard from the ADR Ethics Board which proposed changes, public comments and testimony about those proposed rule changes, and the ADR Workgroup which was appointed by the Supreme Court, so there has been extensive input into these proposed rules. This represents its current iteration, but the final rule changes, if any, will be up to the Supreme Court.
The Court will decide whether to solicit further public comments, schedule a hearing, or consider the Final Report of the General Rules Committee without further input – and there is no time frame for when their decision about how to proceed will be made so we simply must wait and see.
When the Court announces its intentions, including if the court does allow for further public comment, the AFCC will share that information.
I have not yet had time to review this in detail; I wanted to get this report to family law practitioners because these proposed rule changes will impact you when and if they come into effect.
James Street
Referee of District Court
Second Judicial District