New Hampshire Family Law Blog : New Hampshire Divorce Lawyer & Attorney : Crusco Law Firm : Family Law, Custody, Child Support : Manchester, New Hampshire, Massachusetts

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. On days where the rest of the New Hampshire government remains open for business, the entire Judicial Branch will close and its employees will take unpaid furlough days in order to accomplish expenditure reduction. The Supreme Court explains these closures in Administrative Orders 2010-03 and 2010-05. The upcoming furlough days, in addition to the three days this spring, are:

• Friday, July 2, 2010
• Friday, August 6, 2010
• Friday, September 3, 2010
• Friday, October 8, 2010
• Friday, November 12, 2010
• Thursday, December 23, 2010

In addition to the furlough days, the courts have reduced their public office hours in order to reduce delays in processing orders and pleadings. In other words, so that it would not continue to take eight weeks or more for some courts to process and mail court orders, the clerk's office will close the front desk or window and turn off the telephone lines to concentrate on processing the orders. The public will not be able to reach the court during these times, though the court will remain open for scheduled hearing and mediations. The family division closures are as follows:

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Tomorrow, the legislature will hold hearings about proposed state budget cuts, including cutting the judicial branch's budget by an additional 4 million dollars. The hearing begins at 11:00 am and the public testimony will begin at 1:00 pm in room 210 of the Legislative Office Building. 

The legislature needs to hear from the families that this will effect, because this is not about the lawyers, judges and court staff but rather the victim of domestic violence who may not be able to get a restraining order because the court is closed, or the child who must wait for a year to be freed for adoption in a termination of parental rights case, or a single parent who must wait for months before obtaining a child support order. If your schedule allows, please attend the hearing tomorrow to voice to the legislature your opposition these detrimental cuts to the judicial branch budget. If you cannot attend, please call your representative.

More information about the proposed budget cuts to the judicial branch:

Broderick: Latest Cuts Are Too Deep, Concord Monitor, 4/9
Gov. Lynch Unveils $85 Million in Cuts Plus Layoffs, Union Leader, 4/8
CJ Broderick: April 8 Court budget letter to Gov. Lynch, 4/8
Senate Passes Bill to Spare Local Courts, Nashua Telegraph, 4/8
Fast facts about the judicial branch, 3/29
Rockingham Prosecutor Reams: 'A disaster for justice', Foster's, 3/20
 

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