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Chief Justice Gildea has convened a group which has been called the “other side workgroup” which is envisioning a plan for the courts to move through the COVID-19 crisis.  The group of judges and court staff who are part of this group held a stakeholders meeting with a number of bar leaders, and as the chapter president I was invited to participate.  She has disseminated guidance for statewide family case processing through technology.  That document is included in the resource page under COVID-19 resources. James Street Referee of District Court Second Judicial District

Minnesota’s AFCC Chapter gains 9 new members in April and wins the international chapter membership challenge. We entered the last month’5 new members ahead of California. California had a great month of April and added 10 new members. We added 9! Thanks to all of the hard work of our membership committee chaired by Emilee Rodriguez (David Best, Shawn Bulgatz, Patricia Buss and Kyle Wemerskirchen) and the great work of our members, we added 37 new members since July. That is a 15% increase, second only to Louisiana. For our efforts, we receive $2500 from the national chapter, but most importantly bragging rights for a year! I believe this increase in membership reflects the hard work of our members – our Legislative Committee chaired by Carlo Faccini and Deb Link did a tremendous job teaching members skills and giving them opportunities to advocate for positions important to them such as focusing on the needs of children when deciding on custody and opposing the equal parenting time presumption. Our Education Committee chairs Laurel Ferris and Amy Krupinski have led the education committee in providing great programming and piloting remote access to allow greater Minnesota members to participate. Keep your eyes open for a brand new webinar being developed as we speak about the ethical and technical issues for mental health providers, ADR providers and lawyers to meet with patients and clients remotely. Finally, our Annual Conference Planning Committee, chaired by Jordan Hart and the Honorable Charlene Hatcher, pivoted and created the “Community Chats” which have been widely popular and well attended. We are also throwing a tribute to Karen Irvin who has followed her daughter to Arizona. The information is on the website. It is Friday night. Click here to read about it. Click here to register for the zoom event Way to go AFCC-MN! James Street Refereee of District Court Second Judicial District

AFCC Member Tom Tuft started a podcast, aptly named “The Minnesota Family Law Podcast,” featuring a series on “Practicing in a Pandemic.”  He is talking with various members of the family law community about how the pandemic is affecting our work, and how we are responding. Tom has already spoken with a number of AFCC members about a wide range of topics of interest.  Recent podcasts feature Lisa Spencer, Jennifer Joseph, Zak Kretchmer, Kevin McGrath and Mindy Mitnick, as well as AFCC president Referee Jim Street.  Tom is as industrious as ever, somehow posting new casts every day. We’ve added a link to a page where all the podcasts can be found on our resources page so you can check them out.  You can also subscribe to the series through Google Podcasts, Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you typically find your jams. Finally, a quick reminder to if you know someone who is interested in joining AFCC, or even on the fence, please urge them to join BEFORE April 30, 2020.   *** Here is the link to Practicing in a Pandemic: https://www.tuftlaw.com/podcasts/

The State of Minnesota provides up to date data on their website, the link is below and listed on this website’s resource page under COVID-19. This data relates to our capacity to meet hospital and ventilator demand, the number of unemployment claims, and how our social distancing compliance is going. This may be useful for you as you reach out to others, plan for your practice or to answer questions you may have personally about an issue. https://mn.gov/covid19/data/response.jsp.

Day at the Capitol event (previously scheduled for April 20) has been cancelled due to COVID-19.

The Minnesota Disability Law Center has just published a fact sheet sharing recommendations for organizations and facilities to consider when protecting public safety for their organizations while also preserving the rights of disabled individuals. It is helpful as you set up your own procedures for your prospective offices, and also if you have clients or patients who are navigating these issues for themselves or loved ones. The link follows, but we will also post this on our resource tab on the website. Rights of People with Disabilities During COVID-19

Attached is Chief Justice Gildea’s latest order implementing the Governor’s executive order to extend stay at home until May 4, 2020. This order attempts to consolidate her previous order and subsequent amendments, and with the exception of one paragraph which addresses the designation of administrative personnel necessary to continue the court’s operations, supercedes the previous orders. The AFCC-MN will continue to keep links to these orders available on the website. Chief Justice Gildea Order

Ramsey County has consolidated many various Supreme Court and Second Judicial District orders and policy interpretations about how the ocurts are responding to the pandemic in one location available at the following link: http://www.mncourts.gov/Find-Courts/Ramsey/COVID-19-Information.aspx. Also, I remind you our chapter is facilitating community chats about emerging issues in family law during these times held remotely every Friday at noon. This Friday Kevin McGrath and Ben Henschel will be discussing a new model of ADR to help your clients access services while the courts are not available to handle many of the non-emergency family law issues which are important to you. Next Friday, Mindy Mitnick will be discussing how to address parenting time issues during these times. I hope you can join us. James Street Referee of District Court Second Judicial District

Here is a link to a great resource prepared by LawHelpMN for self-represented litigants. It explains things in understandable terms. For all you mental health professionals who have patients with whom you work who have questions, but not attorneys, this is a great resource. Fact Sheet

This is a link to guidelines for separated parents who are co-parenting during the COVID-19 epidemic which were jointly prepared by the AFCC and AAML. They are common sense ideas for people who are afraid for their children’s safety during these times. The current uncertainty creates challenges for parents who are co-parenting and particularly for those who struggle to do so effectively during regular times. We hope this is helpful. Coparenting Guidelines

The Minnesota Judicial Council, the policymaking body of the Minnesota Judicial Branch, held an emergency meeting on Friday, March 13, 2020 to discuss Emergency Executive Order 20-01; Declaring a Peacetime Emergency and Coordinating Minnesota’s Strategy to Protect Minnesotans from COVID-19. Following that meeting, Chief Justice Lorie S. Gildea issued a statewide order, effective Monday, March 16, 2020, for all Minnesota courts. On March 20, 2020, in light of the continuing state of emergency and in an effort to further limit gatherings in public locations, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued Administrative Order ADM20-8001 providing that only certain hearing types may occur in the courtroom and for those hearings access to all court facilities shall be limited to only court staff and judicial officers, and participants whose presence is required for scheduled court proceedings. Case participants may include parties, attorneys, and individuals who are required to be present for the proceeding at direction of the presiding judge. The order goes into effect on Monday, March 23, 2020, and is in effect for the next 30 days or until another order is issued, whichever comes first. The order was amended on Monday, March 23, 2020. To implement the Order issued by Chief Justice Gildea, the Second Judicial District has developed updated case handling protocols by Division. Please note that the information contained in this document is specific to the Second Judicial District. Building Access: For information regarding Second Judicial District courthouse building access, please review the attached Administrative Order issued by Chief Judge John H. Guthmann on March 21, 2020. Jury Trials (All Lines of Business): Other than juries that are on-going, no new jury trials shall commence before April 22, 2020. Civil: Per Administrative Order ADM20-8001, effective March 23, 2020, in person hearings are authorized through April 22, 2020 only in the following case types: expedited housing/eviction matters which have been commenced under Minn. Stat. 504B.321, subd. 2 and housing/eviction matters where there is a showing of individual or public risk to health or safety (e.g. lockout, matters concerning domestic abuse); civil commitments; and emergency guardianship/conservatorship matters. Parties may also appear by phone for those hearings, except when the request for relief presents an immediate liberty concern, or when public or personal safety concerns are paramount. In person hearings are also authorized through April 22, 2020 for garnishment exemption hearings filed under Minn. Stat. 571.914, subd. 1. With approval of the assigned judge, and with the exception of eviction cases, hearings in all other case types through April 22, 2020 may be held by review of the parties’ submissions without oral argument or by phone, to the extent feasible, practicable, and in the interests of justice. Please contact the assigned judge or call 651-266-8266 X3 for additional information. Family and Domestic Abuse/Harassment: Per Administrative Order ADM20-8001, effective March 23, 2020, hearings are authorized on an emergency basis only for emergency change-of-custody requests. All other in-person family proceedings are suspended until April 22, 2020 or until further notice from this Court. For those family matters postponed, individual parties may request a hearing, in writing, if an emergent situation requiring the attention of the court arises. Parties may also request the Court to consider motions based solely on paper submissions and without oral argument or the Court may schedule hearings that require parties and attorneys to appear without being in the courtroom such as telephonically or video conference. Criminal: Per Administrative Order ADM20-8001, effective March 23, 2020, hearings are authorized on an emergency basis only in the following case types in which the defendant is in-custody: bail review; hearings under Rule 8 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure; omnibus hearings that do not require live testimony; plea hearings; sentencing hearings; and probation revocation hearings if any necessary testimony can be provided remotely. The defendant and the attorneys may appear remotely. Victim impact information may be provided remotely. In adherence to Administrative Order ADM20-8001, calendars in the Second Judicial District that will proceed through April 22nd are: LEC 101 for in custody matters LEC 102 for in custody matters In custody 10 Day Demands will be consolidated with the misdemeanor LEC calendar Chambers All in custody probation violations where the 7 day period has not been waived will become resolvable at the LEC. *All other proceedings in adult criminal matters are suspended until April 22, 2020 or until further notice from this court. Those calendars include all out-of-custody: All Maplewood Calendars Arraignments (131A) Sentencings St. Paul Petty Court Trials Implied Consents Out of custody Rule 8 and OH hearings Out of custody criminal trials Evidentiary/suppression hearings Misdemeanor Pretrial/OH Calendars Please Note: For those criminal matters postponed, individual parties may request a hearing, in writing, from the assigned judge if an immediate liberty and/or safety concern requiring the attention of the court arises. Child Protection: Per Administrative Order ADM20-8001, effective March 23, 2020, the only hearings that will be held in the courtroom are emergency protective care (EPC) hearings for children in placement. The EPC hearing shall be combined with an admit/deny hearing, if possible. Attendance in the courtroom shall be limited to parties and parent-participants, and their attorneys. All other proceedings in juvenile protection matters will be conducted based on the presiding judge’s review of the parties’ written submissions or the hearing can be held remotely as specifically determined by the presiding judge. All other proceedings or trials that require live testimony are suspended until April 22, 2020. Juvenile Delinquency: Per Administrative Order ADM20-8001, effective March 23, 2020, the only hearings that are authorized to be held in the courtroom are hearings involving juveniles that are in-custody, specifically including detention review hearings; omnibus hearings that do not require live testimony; plea hearings; certification hearings; extended jurisdiction juvenile hearings; disposition hearings; and probation revocation hearings. The juvenile and the attorneys may appear remotely. In adherence to Administrative Order ADM20-8001, all other juvenile delinquency matters are suspended until April 22nd, unless they can be done without oral argument by paper submissions or remotely using ITV, video conferencing, or telephonically. Please Note: For those juvenile delinquency matters postponed, individual parties may request a hearing, in writing, from the assigned judge if an immediate liberty and/or safety concern requiring the attention of the court arises. The Second Judicial District will make every effort to notify attorneys and self-represented litigants of the postponement and rescheduling of hearings during the next 30 days. If you have an emergency situation requiring the attention of the Court, a hearing request may be made in writing. If you have a court case scheduled at any Ramsey County District Court location between March 23, 2020 and April 22, 2020 and you are unable to discern whether your case will be heard or will be scheduled to a future date, please call (651) 266-8266. *Attorneys have been asking whether lower priority case types can be addressed during the emergency. Administrative Order ADM20-8001 authorizes proceedings in all other case types provided they are held by ITV or any other remote technology that permits the parties and attorneys to appear without being in the courtroom, or by review of the parties’ submissions without oral argument, to the extent feasible and practicable. To that end, the Second Judicial District is currently evaluating its remote technology capabilities and will provide additional information by March 27, 2020 regarding other proceedings that may be held remotely. The Minnesota Judicial Branch continues to monitor the most current statements and recommendations regarding COVID-19 in Minnesota. The Branch is coordinating closely with statewide partners, including the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). The Branch will be following MDH recommendations as the situation evolves. Therefore, anyone who plans to or is required to go to a courthouse will be asked to follow all necessary precautions to prevent spread. When measures are implemented, they will be posted at http://mncourts.gov/emergency Update from Chief Justice Gildea

In light of the current necessity of reduced access to the district courts, a new form of ADR is available starting today in the 4th judicial district: Remote Expedited Temporary Relief (“RETR”). It is anticipated that other judicial districts will soon follow. Please see the Program Description and Order. RETR Description RETR ORDER