Family Law Information Centers

Introduction

The Judicial Council through the Center for Families, Children & the Courts, has established three pilot projects for much-needed family law information centers in Los Angeles, Fresno, and Sutter Counties.

An evaluation of the three pilot program is available here.

Family Law Information Centers Services

Los Angeles County had 134,443 new family law filings in fiscal year 1998–1999. In 85 percent of these cases, at least one party was not represented by counsel. The demand for family law facilitator services is so great that litigants line up every morning outside the facilitator's office before it opens, and the receptionist frequently books a month's worth of appointments in two days.

To address its family law backlog, Los Angeles County established family law information centers at the Central and Norwalk branches of the superior court. Two paralegals and a supervising attorney will provide general assistance to unrepresented litigants on family law issues; serve as referral providers for all family law agencies; develop a resource library for litigants, with videos and how-to materials; assist litigants preparing orders after hearing; and provide community education and outreach.

In Fresno County, the family law information program provided services in seven outlying courts and at the Civic Center of Fresno County, in conjunction with the family law facilitator and a new domestic violence project sponsored by Central California Legal Assistance. The services targeted low-income litigants in traditionally underrepresented groups, including non-English-speaking residents, migrants, refugees, and those who find it difficult to get to the Civic Center because of distance. The program provided culturally tailored brochures, how-to handouts, workshops, and one-on-one services.

Sutter County's family law information center provided services to residents of Sutter, Yuba, and Colusa Counties. The cornerstone of a new family resource center, it offered one-on-one legal assistance, daily information clinics, computer workstations that allow pro per litigants to prepare forms and do basic legal research, a room for mediation, and a pro per legal research/law library with a "quiet work area."

Please contact CFCC@jud.ca.gov for more information.