Vt. Admin. Ord. Of. Sup. Ct. 1
The Vermont Family Court was created in October 1990 as a court of statewide jurisdiction to hear and dispose of family-related matters. The Legislature envisioned the Family Court as having a less adversarial atmosphere, where alternative methods of dispute resolution would be encouraged and where court staff would be trained to work with people and families to help them find the best way to resolve their disputes.
The goals of the Family Court, as established in 1990 by a Committee created by the Supreme Court and chaired by Associate Justice James L. Morse, include empowering family members to choose the most appropriate dispute resolution process, supporting people to locate and use appropriate community resources, protecting children and adults from abuse, and providing timely decisions at all stages of the process.
The procedures established by this order are authorized as an experiment to determine whether granting parties the ability to choose nonadversarial alternative procedures in divorce and parentage actions and granting judges discretionary authority to take action that will enable the parties or the court to make better informed decisions while reducing court costs and delay are effective methods to help the Family Court to accomplish its goals.
Vt. Admin. Ord. Of. Sup. Ct. 1