Family Law Tip of the Week: Facebook Friends?

By Mag. Kimberly Dean Mattingly, Marion Superior Court

1. Friends: We can all still be friends, but not on Facebook. At a meeting over lunch yesterday, we were informed of a court employee policy that applies to Magistrates and Commissioners who have a presence on social media: we cannot be directly linked to any lawyers that might appear before us. Therefore, you may have felt unloved as you started getting dumped by your Facebook friends yesterday and today. Please don’t take it personally! Most JOs on Facebook are ditching all of their lawyer friends to be safe and to avoid the problem of friending, then unfriending when a case is pending, then friending again, etc.
2. Retro tip of the week: My colleagues often ask that a Tip be repeated, so I’ll start featuring an occasional “retro” tip. This week’s is a reminder for those who request modest means mediators: those requests must be accompanied by financial declarations, and the resulting Order MUST BE GENERATED BY OUR IN-HOUSE WEBSITE. Mellisica has reminded Judicial Officers of the need to use the website, as the mediator will not be paid by the ADR fund unless the order comes from our internal system. The ADR fund that pays for this program has strict qualification and reporting requirements that must all be tracked via the internal system. 

Stay tuned for a new tip next week!

If you would like to submit content or write an article for the Family Law Section page, please email Kara Sikorski at ksikorski@indybar.org.