Description: Summary: The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes to amend one rule and revise one form to implement recent legislative changes requiring that the court find by clear and convincing evidence that a youth is not amenable to rehabilitation while under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. Assembly Bill 2361 (Bonta; Stats. 2022, ch. 330) amended Welfare and Institutions Code section 707 to include that standard of proof, and to require the court to set forth the basis in an order entered upon the minutes for making that finding. Deadline: Comments must be submitted by Friday, January 20, 2023 at, 5:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Category: Family and Juvenile
Item Number: W23-09
Deadline: January 20, 2023
File: w23-09.pdf
Description: The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes revising several forms in order to provide court users and the public with updated information regarding relief available to incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized child support obligors. The proposed revisions are necessary to reflect recent amendments made to Family Code section 4007.5.
Category: Family and Juvenile
Item Number: SPR23-33
Deadline: May 12, 2023
File: spr23-33.pdf
Description: The Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee, the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee, and the Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee propose adopting one form, revising two forms, revising and renumbering one form, and revoking one form to reflect a change in the law and to clarify and modernize the existing forms. The forms in the proposal are used to apply for and order the appointment of a guardian ad litem in a civil action or proceeding, including a family law proceeding, and in a proceeding under the Probate Code.
Category: Family and Juvenile
Item Number: SPR23-22
Deadline: May 12, 2023
File: spr23-22.pdf
Description: The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes amending four rules and one form to conform to recent statutory changes clarifying the due diligence that must be used by a social services agency or probation department in performing its family finding obligation when a child is removed from the home. Senate Bill 384 revises Welfare and Institutions Code sections 309 and 628 to define the obligation of the placing agency to engage in family finding in dependency and juvenile justice (delinquency) cases. The bill defines due diligence, which requires a social worker or probation officer to ask the child in an age-appropriate manner about parents and adult relatives. Due diligence also requires the agency to use a computer-based search engine to identify relatives and kin to provide family support and possible placement for the child. In addition, in the case of an Indian child, the bill also clarifies that the placing agency must contact the Indian child’s tribe to help identify relatives and kin.
Category: Family and Juvenile
Item Number: SPR23-21
Deadline: May 12, 2023
File: spr23-21.pdf
Description: The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes amending the Guidelines for the Juvenile Dependency Counsel Collections Program (Guidelines), Appendix F of the California Rules of Court, to incorporate by reference Government Code section 68632(b)(1), which addresses eligibility for a court fee waiver, to determine the income level at or below which a responsible person is presumed unable to pay the cost of appointed counsel in a juvenile dependency proceeding. The proposed change would maintain the Judicial Council policy adopted with the original Guidelines in 2012 linking the presumption of a person’s inability to pay the cost of dependency counsel to the income amount in Government Code section 68632(b), which addresses eligibility for a court fee waiver. New legislation recently amended section 68632(b) to increase that amount from 125 percent to 200 percent of the federal poverty Guidelines.
Category: Family and Juvenile
Item Number: SPR23-20
Deadline: May 12, 2023
File: spr23-20.pdf
Description: The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee recommends adopting one rule of the California Rules of Court and adopting six forms to conform to recent statutory changes enacted by Assembly Bill 2317 (Ramos; Stats. 2022, ch. 589) regarding court oversight of the voluntary admission of a child, nonminor, or nonminor dependent to a psychiatric residential treatment facility.
Category: Family and Juvenile
Item Number: SPR23-19
Deadline: May 12, 2023
File: spr23-19.pdf
Description: The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes to amend one rule of the California Rules of Court and revise four forms to conform with recent statutory changes enacted by Assembly Bill 2495 (Patterson; Stats. 2022, ch. 159) regarding various topics related to adoptions, including when to display a child’s preadoption name on adoption request and order forms, procedures for filing a postadoption contact order, and venue for adoption requests. The committee also proposes technical changes to correct errors and respond to partner and stakeholder feedback.
Category: Family and Juvenile
Item Number: SPR23-18
Deadline: May 12, 2023
File: spr23-18.pdf
Description: Summary: The Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee and the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee recommend adoption of two new forms, Request for Sheriff to Serve Court Papers (form SER-001) and an attachment to that form, Special Instructions to Serve Court Papers (form SER-001A). The proposed forms comply with the statutory mandate in Assembly Bill 2791 that the Judicial Council adopt a form or forms for civil litigants to request that a sheriff’s office service their court papers. Deadline: Comments must be submitted by Tuesday, September 5, 2023 at, 5:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Category: Family and Juvenile
Item Number: SP23-06
Deadline: September 5, 2023
File: sp23-06.pdf
Description: The Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee proposes amending four rules of court and revising seven forms to implement Senate Bill 35 (Stats. 2023, ch. 283), which amended both substantive and procedural aspects of the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act. In addition, the statute updated the Judicial Council mandate to adopt rules implementing the policies and provisions of the act to add a requirement that the rules include “communications between the CARE Act court and the juvenile court, if applicable,” and to remove the requirement that the rules include “the clerk’s review of the petition.” The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee joins in proposing the amendment of rule 7.2210 and the revision of form CARE-100 to the extent those proposed changes address communications between the CARE Act court and the juvenile court.
Category: Family and Juvenile
Item Number: W24-03
Deadline: January 19, 2024
File: w24-03.pdf
Description: The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes approving 2 new forms, revising 20 forms, and revoking 3 forms related to child support. This action is necessary to implement changes to the Family Code made by Assembly Bill 207 (Stats. 2022, ch. 573) and Senate Bill 343 (Stats. 2023, ch. 213) to bring California into compliance with federal regulations requiring child support orders be based on evidence of actual income or, where actual income is unknown, the specific circumstances of the obligor parent. The proposed action is also necessary to implement changes made to the Family Code by Assembly Bill 2960 (Stats. 2022, ch. 420), which mandates that local child support agencies provide notice regarding payment of support to parents and the court when they begin and cease to provide child support enforcement services, and Assembly Bill 1148 (Stats. 2023, ch. 565), which increases the time period before child support resumes after an obligor parent has been released from incarceration or confinement.
Category: Family and Juvenile
Item Number: SP24-01
Deadline: March 22, 2024
File: sp24-01.pdf