Kentucky would shift significant resources to its growing family court docket under a plan that would overhaul the state’s judicial system for the first time in 40 years.
Kentucky would get an additional 16 family court judges while losing 15 district and circuit court judges under a plan released Tuesday by Kentucky Chief Justice John Minton. The potentially divisive plan will be a test for the new Republican majority in the state legislature, which is scheduled to convene next month. If approved, the plan would go into effect in 2022 when all of the state’s judges would be on the ballot.
The new family court judges would be scattered throughout the state, mostly in rural areas with the exception of Boone and Kenton counties in northern Kentucky. Of the 11 district court judges eliminated, seven are in western Kentucky. Three of the four circuit court judges eliminated are in eastern Kentucky.
Minton recommended creating one new judgeship on the family court in Lincoln, Pulaski and Rockcastle counties. He said an analysis of the caseload there showed the lone family court judge was handling the workload equivalent of 2.18 judges. Minton said it’s an example of the increasing caseload of the state’s family court judges he says is fueled in part by the epidemic of heroin addiction.
Source: AP
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