Imagine you are going through a divorce with child support, custody, domestic abuse and guardianship issues on the table. That’s quite a burden for anyone to carry, and the current court structure only increases your burden and, quite probably, your legal expenses.
You’ll likely end up in Family Court to resolve the support and custody issues. But the Family Court judge can’t grant your divorce, so you will have to go to the Supreme Court for that. You may end up in County Court for the abuse issue. For any guardianship issues you’ll probably need to go to Surrogate’s Court as well. Multiple appearances before multiple judges in multiple courts can result in conflicting decisions on similar issues in the same case and cause delays that are not only costly and frustrating, but potentially dangerous when they involve domestic violence or placement of children in crisis.
– from Craig Doran, New York State Supreme Court justice and the administrative judge for the 7th District. In that capacity, he is responsible for overseeing court operations in the trial courts in Cayuga, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne and Yates counties.