The Elkins Family Law Task Force

The Elkins Family Law Task Force was appointed in response to an August 2007 California Supreme Court opinion, Elkins v. Superior Court (2007) 41 Cal.4th 1337, which held that marital dissolution trials should “proceed under the same general rules of procedure that govern other civil trials.”  The charge of the task force is to propose measures to improve efficiency and fairness in family law proceedings and ensure access to justice for all family law litigants.  At its initial meeting in June 2008, the task force defined values that have guided its work and will inform proposed recommendations:

Ensuring justice, fairness, and due process in family law;

Ensuring meaningful access for all litigants;

Using innovative techniques to promote effectiveness and efficiency;

Improving the status of, and respect for, family law litigants and the family law process and

Securing adequate resources, including existing, reallocated, and new resources.

As of October 1, 2009 the Elkins Family Law Task Force had released over 100 draft recommendations for a two-month public comment period that ended on December 4, 2009.  The task force will convene in a two-day meeting from February 1-2, 2010 in the Judicial Council Conference Center of the Administrative Office of the Courts in San Francisco.

Adapted from http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/jc/tflists/elkins.htm