38 thoughts on “Should judges be elected or appointed? Poll #25”
Elected means that the people have had their chance to vote. No matter who contributes what to a judge’s campaign, the corrupt can still be ousted by the voters. Appointed means that insiders can control the decision and the judges only have to answer to them, not to the people whose lives they destroy.
Judicial code of conduct boards in my state hardly ever discipline judges. No matter how lopsided or unfair decision a judge may make, the conduct commitee is unable to find fault. Why should they? After all, if a judge skewers the breadwinner in a marriage with substantial assets, the judge is just helping all of his judge buddies feather their own nest/pension with those Part IV-D matching funds.There is no motivation for the system to have effective oversight.
Appointed yes, but only those highly qualified and formally
trained to be a judge, prior to serving on the bench. Trained
ideally prior to nomination. In 2009, the ABA (American Bar)
passed Resolution 113 (2009), which urges each state to
develop formal judicial curricula, with admissions criteria,
to prepare those seeking a “judicial career.”
The admissions process for entrance to an accredited
judicial college would identify applicants having exceptional
judicial skills. To ensure the greatest possible skill-level
among those matriculating, the admissions criteria are
rigorous, directed specifically to the judicial profession,
and there is no requirement that applicants be lawyers
or attorneys.
As planned, the training is full-time for one to two years,
throughout which time there is testing, measuring,
and developing of judicial skills, and individualized
training, including judicial simulations to test/develop skills
in, e.g.: objectivity, inquiry, bias-trigger resistance, deception
detection, influence recognition, ascertaining truth, relevance,
probability; fact-finding, problem-solving, data and conflict
analysis, and conflict resolution skills (which would as proposed
be greatest among judges/clerks assigned to family, juvenile,
and probate courts, where the rights of innocent 3d parties
are typically adjudicated). Such skills play no role in the judicial
selection criteria, process, or “training” presently available
in the US. Things finally started changing for our courts
during the first decade of the new millenium, after our court
system was studied, found in 2001 to be (and recognized as
being) broken, and was in 2009, via unanimous resolution,
ordered reformed. Now, it is up to the adults, the parents,
to make sure this all happens.
Dr says appointment of judges is preferable
in all states, but this assumes our future
judges are selected and trained for service
in the judicial profession, per se. Actually
ABA Resolution 113 is intended to bridge the
divide between those states electing,
and those selecting, judges, in that they
will be required to be skilled and trained
in judging prior to service on the bench
whether elected or appointed.
I would define the “adults,” the “parents”
Dr referenced, as any individual who has
insight regarding the courts, their functioning
and dysfunctioning, particularly those sub-
jected, perhaps involuntarily, to a family
court in its current operation, These parents
include: educators, lawyers, doctors, physicians,
social workers, scientists, mathematicians,
linguists, psychologists, engineers, economists,
police officers, investigative reporters, etc. They
all have a role to play in the long-overdue establish-
ment of a “judicial profession” in the US.
Der
Judges should pass tests for senility and stupidity
Once every two years.
Maybe, Segundo, they should also take IQ tests.
No name.. I agree… we also must understand those Judges running for election or re-election are guided and even dictated to who is to run and not run by the State Bar (s) and State Judicial Board. Ever wonder why so many judges are unopposed for re-election…
Appointment or election are fine. What is needed is a citizens review board that conducts “blind” evaluations of a judge’s conduct and rulings based upon a rudimentary understanding (in other words the layman’s understanding of our Constitutional rights) of the law. The board would not know the name of the judge and have no contact personally or in that judge’s court. The board would submit its findings and recommendations to a legislative body which would be bound by law to suspend that judge’s judgeship pending an investigation. Let the legislature take its time because the next judge would be very cautious about offending citizen’s rights.
Indeed, my idea for the last 4 years… “Citizen Review Boards.” Not just for Judges but for attorneys, CPS workers, Domestic Violence Program workers, cops and others receiving any government tax funding.
It needs to be comprised of a group of people with no agendas. Like a jury, totally impartial. Those groups have their own agendas and bias.
Also, judges should be required to have mental health evaluations every year, having them done outside of their jurisdictions, and the reports sent to the Attorney Generals office for review and recommendations and then passed on to the Governor.
These people make decisions that change peoples life forever. They need to be on their game!
How about neither and let them work like the rest of us in private sector.
Hired based on merit and retained based on performance.
Also remove medical and retirement for life.
Better that they know first hand the experiences of those they intend to judge.
WAY too much money to be lost by the criminals and the ‘shepple’ are asleep and don’t really care.
I think judges are one of the many weaknesses of our legal system. I’d rather everything be settled by jury of some kind (maybe 20 people and majority rules) and that juries be chosen more randomly and not by lawyers. I’d like to see everyone do a half-day seminar in what their jury duties would involve, every two years. And then people specialize as jurors in family, criminal, or whatever kind of law. They should be paid for their time from the money saved from paying judges. Sure, there are bugs to iron out. But this business of having one person in a black robe acting like god almighty is just ridiculous. And it’s caused a lot of heartbreak.
I wish everyone all the best. I know everyone here must have been through a lot. I feel stronger just coming here and knowing I’m not alone in my frustration with the family law industry.
PS: Is there a page where I can see all the poll results?
Potential Judges should pass the SMELL test……too often, Judges are placed into positions of power for life…. and they, with the strike of a pen….destroy the lives of women and children……potential Judges should be vetted by a panel of people in all walks of life…..
Zenethia, Judges also destroy the lives of men and their children too. It’s not just women.
What is most improtant is that they can be removed, not how they are elected or appointed. It is all about accountability to the citizen/people. Here in Massachusetts they cannot be removed for practical purposes, as it takes a majortiy vote of legislators. Judges here know this and abuse it constantly. We also have appointed judges and the “Governor’s Council”, which is suppose to vet judges, is a total joke, essentailly a political stepping stone for people who want to enter politics. So only a couple on that board will ever object to even the worst possible candidates. They just want to make the Governor happy. Essentially this is making judge jobs a form of patronage.
My “judge” (Judge Ronald King) was never even a working lawyer, just a clerk working for the state before becoming a lawyer. WIth the appointment (after donating to various political campaign) he got a raise to a $160,000 salary from a clearks salary and 75% of that as an instant pension. No company in teh work would move an employee from a $50,000/year job to a $160,000 year job in one step and also give tham an instant pension at that new level. It is criminal! This creates corruption to get these jobs. He is a disgrace and does not even attempt to follow the law. All the alleged chacks and balances in teh entire judicial system have been removed to allow thes people to do anything they want. The Judicial Conduct Commission is a joke – doesn’t even investigate the complaints. IThe probate court is now essentially a mafia, not a court of law. Even teh appeals court rubber stamps decisions that are blatently illegal under both state and constituional law. It has been optimized to extract money from familes and generate money for the state via child support kick backs. ALl 50 states get about 23% of what tehy order and collect under SSA Title IV-D. That is a clear conflict of interest and also a violation of the judicial canons. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo6PkNmopjI&list=PLC479E388A2045927
Elections at least would allow an opportunity to have judges removed regularly, which makes them more responsible and accountabily for their actions, though not fully. We could then campaign to remove a judge at least.
What most people don’t understand is, judges resign or retire before their term is up, so that the Governors can appoint someone from their camp, for the open seat. Then the newly appointed judge runs for re-election as the incumbent. Citizens think judges are elected. We need term limitations so that judges can’t get their “little enterprises” entrenched in the system where it is impossible to get them out.
If you have been victimized by Georgia Courts, especially Fulton County Superior Court, please contact me. Tanditemple@gmail.com. Facebook United Coalition for Judicial Reform. We are organizing a group to meet with the FBI on June 18, 2014. Please join us! Thank you again Divorce Corp for giving us a platform to share our ideas, thoughts and stories. Regards, Tandi Temple
Facilitating Family Failure
“Shall we play a game?”
First and foremost, I hold the deepest, eternal gratitude for, the brave men and women of the armed forces who risk, and too often lose, their lives preserving and protecting our nation and our freedoms. Unchecked, the unscrupulous among us, will destroy the nation and freedoms so many have fought and died for.
That having been said, in dealing with the Office of the Attorney General; my State’s Title IV-D agency, I would from time to time experience a strong sensation of deshavu. As one might expect, I couldn’t pinpoint the cause. Then at once it became very clear to me that I had seen it in action before. Long ago, on an old black and white TV. I realized that the States’ IV-D child support and enforcement machine utilized performance measures not unlike the morbid Vietnam War “Body Count” implemented by then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Thereafter, I located additional documentation that supports this hypothesis.
(See: http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title04/0400.htm)
So who in their right mind would resurrect John Nash’s narcissistic vampire from the Vietnam era and turn it loose on the American Family? It would appear to be the Department of Health and Human Services in conjunction with your state Title IV-D agency. (Office of the Attorney General of Texas)
I have bad news for all you conspiracy theorists. THERE AIN’T ONE!!! Let me try to explain. First it would be helpful if you had a general understanding of Game Theory. Game Theory is a branch of applied mathematics and economics that studies situations where players choose different actions in an attempt to maximize their returns. First developed as a tool for understanding economic behavior and then by the RAND Corporation to define nuclear war strategies. Of particular interest is the Nash equilibrium. This is a concept from game theory, named after John Forbes Nash, who proposed it. You may recall the movie Beautiful Mine where John Nash was portrayed as a tortured hero. In reality he was difficult and spiky at best; but, I digress.
Game Theory, Nash equilibrium in particular enables the Title IV-D program designers to accurately predict outcomes and actions of individuals from the outset. Such individuals include but not limited to litigants, potential litigants, caseworkers, attorneys, judges, politicians and the like. Upon implementation of the Title IV-D program it began to develop what could be best described as a collective intelligence per se, driven by the collective self-interests of its individual stake-holders (i.e. award individuals with incentive payments for program performance). The Title IV-D program is inherently dangerous to those individuals who find themselves at odds with or become the objective sought by the program designers. In such instances the program may with indifference produce irremediable results that are so manifestly unfair, benefiting a particular group or individual at the expense of another, without any semblance of logic, reason or respect for Rights. Understandably, this is fertile ground for conspiracy theory to take root and breed, especially when such atrocities include deprivation of fundamental Rights and subsequent incarceration by the state in fulfillment of various federal mandates.
So what does HHS’s Title IV-D, program seek? Without attacking the intentions or the morality of the program designers at HHS, one might suppose HHS actions are that of false philanthropy. Otherwise it appears to me to be nothing less than a power grab for regulatory control over the fundamental building block of our society. The American Family. All the while using McNamara’s Vietnam War strategy or similar game theory models to wage war on the family, break it up and suck it dry of all its assets. Whereby creating a new class of needy for the system to “serve.” This may also explain resent legislation concerning the programs access and acquisition of what was once private information held by various government controlled entities (i.e. the I R S) to feed their computer models. A program such as this may exhibit destructive psychopathic behavior, especially if the collective self-interests of its individual stakeholders are threatened. Absent any threat the program by no means confines itself to its proper functions. When it has exceeded its proper functions, it has not done so merely in some inconsequential and debatable matters. It acts in direct opposition to its own purpose, destroying its own objective. HHS’s Title IV-D program appears to me to be unjust; an injustice so independent of personal intentions that each of us suffers from it without knowing the cause of the suffering. Lastly, HHS’s Title IV-D program may place the collective force at the disposal of the unscrupulous who wish, without risk, to exploit the person, liberty, property and vulnerability of others while claiming to be a great philanthropist.
Having a passion for most anything aerospace; I was disappointed and somewhat surprised to learn that US Defense contractor, Lockheed Martin was a major stake-holder and instrumental in the development and implementation of the Title IV-D program here in Texas. However If your intent is to prevail at war, contracting with Lockheed Martin for that purpose, makes perfect sense.
For the most part the Texas Family Law system acts in direct opposition to its own purpose. In short, the law has been converted into an instrument of plunder. The most striking consequences of such a perversion is that, it erases from everyone’s conscience the distinction between justice and injustice. It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this.
Individuals join together and form societies for the purpose of cooperating. When they do, they lower their defenses and form trust relationships to facilitate interaction and productivity. But this makes them vulnerable to the unscrupulous that violate the trust in order to gain a disproportionate share of what the society produces. So there must be some deterrent against predacious behaviors or people will not lower their defenses enough to facilitate congregation and cooperation. The justice system is supposed to serve as that deterrent. So what happens when the impartiality of the justice system personnel as a whole becomes corrupted via conflicting interests caused by HHS’s Title IV-D program? The answer is of course that the justice system becomes the vehicle for predation and no longer provides the trust necessary for people to assemble and collaborate. Eventually the society collapses when it can no longer sustain itself or compete with healthy societies.
In case you’re wandering. I didn’t just wake up one morning with a bad case of the red ass and without good cause set out to challenge the establishment. An endeavor as such would be an un-wise assignment of one’s time or resources and serve no greater purpose, at least none that I can imagine. That said, I have faced many difficult challenges throughout my life, some of achievement, and others for survival; all of which pale in comparison to the challenges I faced in maintaining a meaningful presence in my children’s lives subsequent to a no-fault divorce. My children suffered immeasurably despite my best efforts to protect them. I lack the words to describe the overwhelming sense of hopelessness I experienced while subject to the cruelty of my state’s Title IV-D family law system.
Simply put, Title IV-D must go!
Yes, Tony, as you so eloquently describe, Title IV-D does change the Family Court Justice system (and Appeals Court and the Supreme Judicial Court) into predatory pirates, instead of a place of trust and respect. It took me many years to realize that my lawyers were just stealing my money by converting it into “billable hours” and that the judge just wanted to get my case over and done with so that she could get those matching funds. She had no interest in what I testified to or what my lawyers said. My lawyers did not use my best arguments. My lawyers understated their legal fees on the financials – I pointed out to them that they were wrong and they insisted on understating their fees. When I read my file later, I realized my lawyers later sent a memo to the judge with the correct amount of legal fees (as legal fees are also eligible for Title IV-D matching fund reimbursement).
At the pre–trial hearing, my ex filed a motion to vacate against me that mercifully did not meet criteria. Both sets of lawyers insisted that we stop living in the same house and that I pay alimony and child support. I did not ask for the divorce and saw absolutely NO reason to pay my ex to rob me of my children or to pay support for an ex working under the table. I refused in no uncertain terms to pay anything, even if it meant losing my professional license and rotting in jail. I was told to either agree to something (that my lawyer promised me would be modifiable later on) or that the judge could impose alimony and child support on me. I knew from the on-line community that my lawyer was lying about alimony being modifiable and told her that I did not believe her and would not agree to pay anything as I could not and would not personally guarantee my ability to pay alimony for life. I decided then and there to take my stand for what I believe in and let them jail me, if they were so inclined. They went back in to confer. While they were conferring without me, I had a near hysterical conversation with my long-time business and health care law attorney about exactly what would happen to my professional license should I go to jail.
When we all went in front of the judge, the judge was clearly irritated with me and I was made to feel that I had done something wrong. The judge did not make me pay either alimony or child support and did not require either one of us to leave the house. I did not know about Title IV-D then. Now I know that if the judge does not collect at least 80% of alimony and child support awarded, the federal government lowers the amount matched from 66 cents on the dollar to less. Jailing me at that time (the pre-trial) would have left me without the ability to earn the income my professional license enables me to earn, but with a high child support/alimony payment that is uncollectible and lowered the amount of available matching funds.
After the trial and once the “assets” have been divided and put in my name alone, the child support and alimony is then collectible provided I have an asset that can be converted into cash, even I have no income (from being jailed and losing my license). That is why the judge wanted to get the trial over and done with after my ex (the plaintiff) and the ex’s witnesses and the ex’s lawyers finished lying on the stand and did not even want to hear my witnesses. The judge refused to hear about my ex’s working under the table, even though the evidence was in the public domain on the internet, since my ex had not listed the under the table work on the court’s financials.
Lastly, Title IV-D has the potential to undermine the public’s faith and trust in the courts, and the very democracy we think we live in.
I agree. I also note there are great similarities to the struggle of the hard working parent after the no fault divorce in the movie 12 Years a Slave. I have been enslaved by Family Court to be the wallet. The judge is the enforcer and the replacement for my parental role while the ex is the plantation owner doing all things terrible to me, my relationship with my kids and my kids. I will be enslaved for 12 years before being released. I will have been whipped and worse.
The movie has a scene where a slave is killed in front of two others and thrown off a boat. The remaining slaves say the murdered slave was the lucky one. The same is true for family court sentencing. Capital punishment is a lesser penalty then what is done every day to good or even great parents. Judges should be removed along with Title 4. They act to remove parental rights which are protected by the Constitution and Supreme Court rulings every day. They have all lost sight of their oath of office and do nothing to improve or encourage justice and equality. They aren’t useful in this function. King’s law has tainted their perspective and the actions they take systemically. Families in divorce should not be their entertainment.
Judges that are uncontested in their election, shall be dismissed. In MN there is a ritual among pear-pirates not to run against incumbent judge, so most of the perverts get re-elected all over again.
Retired Judges should not be used as a shield by Judges that are being pressured to issue unfair rulings. In IN a retired Judge took custody away from me (with no reason or evidence of any abuse/neglect/wrong doing) and gave our son to the father. He has a domestic battery record against me with the children in the home at the time and multiply police records that include taking our son without permission and refusing to return him. He just moved on to a new form of battery. The Judge issued at the same time a ridiculous judgement that I had to pay $7,000 a year in private school tuition, knowing I am unemployed, broke and on food stamps. On May 29 he took away my driver’s license so I have no ability to work, visit my children or worship (no public transit in rural Indiana). If I don’t pay the judgment in 90 days they have already threatened to jail me. No license means no work means no money. This is totally insane. The owner of the Colts only lost his license for 1 year for DUI. I have no way to ever get my license back.
Judges should be elected to their positions but only if their records are fully known to the voters. In Cook County Illinois we had a judge sentenced a father to jail for contempt because he took his child to Mass. The judge who sentenced him should not have been re-elected to the bench, but he was.
Judges should definitely be elected. In South Carolina, where the judges are appointed by the legislature, a lawyer who is a member of the House or Senate’s legislative committee may appear before a judge when the lawyer has the power to re-elect or dismiss that judge. Which side do you think will get everything that they are asking for?
Judges wo are appointed are beholding to the person and party responsible for thier appointment. They are tainted.
Why in the world would we want to let criminals (aka judges) be appointed??? The criminals are so corrupt that they found a way to stay in power by getting OTHER criminals to appoint them!
Sweet deal if you are a criminal like a Judge!
VOTE THE CRIMINALS OUT!!!
They are already elected, after being appointed. And the system is not working. There needs to be a system of checks and balances and a way of reporting to the public their approval ratings.
Terms limits is the best solution for judges and all politicians. Judges shouldn’t just be lawyers either, especially in family law, where common sense should prevail over legal technicalities. Remember, divorced parents are not criminals. Why should we be treated the same way as criminals by the legal system.
I like the idea of all of the people here. It is just the simple fact that there is so much corruption that these idiots will never be held accountable in the system where their buddies are the ones watching the hen house!
I think that if someone wants to be a judge, they should sign an agreement that states not only will they obey the constitution of the United States, But understanding that they face public execution by hanging if they violate any civil rights. That sounds fair to me, and should keep them honest
Judges should be elected. Unfortunately name recognition and campaign monies are a huge factor. In Michigan the Powers-that-be use this to their benefit by having Judges retire or resign mid term then the Governors Office appoints his (or the local mob’s) choice. Here is (in part) a letter I resently sent on that exact subject.
~~
May 19, 2014
Rick Snyder, Governor
State of Michigan
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, Michigan 48909
Governor’s Legal Division
Judicial Appointments-Legal Division
George W. Romney Building
11 1 South Capitol Avenue
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, Michigan, 48909,
SUBJECT: Judicial Appointments for Lenawee County Michigan
Dear Sir or Madam:
I recently read in the Daily Telegram (Adrian, Michigan) that Governor Snyder and your offices would be making Judicial Appointments to Lenawee County. There are an alarming number of local Judges, lawyers, Court Employees and County Departments and local court subcontractors that routinely engage in fraud, perjury, and numerous other unethical and even criminal behaviors.
Government and the Republican Party certainly have devolved since my mother Jane MacArthur Brown was the Precinct Captain who helped elect Don Rumsfeld to his first public office, and fought in the campaigns of other good men to represent Americans, such as Everett Dirksen!
I am an 11th Generation American. You’d think my Civil Rights and Constitutional Rights would be protected by the Elected and Civil Employees of this State, but they are not. My family has served Liberty since colonial days, my son Sgt Owen Whitman, served in Kuwait, brother Walter F. Brown, Jr. Petty Officer of 20 years with US Navy Nuclear Subs, brother Robert A. Brown, US Army in Germany during the 1960s, my father Walter F. Brown, Sr. Captain US Army Airforce WWII, and going back to 1620.
Until I had the misfortune to be bullied and robbed by a bunch of unethical thugs, I had no idea just how corrupt Lenawee County Michigan and the State of Michigan are. In fact I had never even had a point on my driver’s license or been in and legal trouble (before the fabricated complaint of horses breaking into a dairy barn to steal silage, which was prosecuted by Lenawee County Prosecutor Jonathon Poer, and Sheriff Jack Welsh at the request of Priscilla Ruesink Jackson, the FOC Court Referee/Lawyer for ex-husband/Notary/Beneficiary and member of Ruesink, LLC (which was formed using property and assets stolen from me). The MacArthur-Ruesink Trust established in 2004 is Revocable by Mutual Agreement only, yet my former in-laws are stealing all of the assets. The Trust which is entailed to a 205 acre farm which I supported to the tune of $600,000 over 9 Years (More than my ex-husband Paul Ruesink contributed in all of the years he lived there) in Lenawee County Michigan has producing oil and gas wells.
(Page 1)
JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT & FRAUD
Paul J. Fischer, Esq.
Director & General Counsel
Judicial Tenure Commission
State of Michigan
Suite 8‐450, 3034 West Grand Blvd.
Detroit, Michigan 48202
Tel (313) 875‐5110 judicialtenure@courts.mi.gov paul.fischer@courts.mi.gov
Complaints No.2009-18229 to 18234 against Priscilla Ruesink Jackson (Lenawee County Friend of the Court Hearings Officer/Attorney/Notary/1st Cousin of ex-Husband Paul Ruesink and Dori Ruesink Durbin), Circuit Court Judge Margaret M.S. Noe (Previously attorney for former step daughter Dori Ruesink Durbin on her last 3 Real Estate Sales & Purchases 1998-2008) and several other Judges (Harvey Koselka, James Sheridan) who were directly involved in the multiple rights violations, frauds and harassment I have suffered. Fraud on the Court, False Prosecution, Repeatedly Violating my Right to Due-Process, having Court Hearings without Notifying me or my attorney, Issuing a Restraining Order without cause and without notifying me or my attorney, violating my Civil Rights, Constitutional Rights, charging me $450/day to live in my own home for 6 weeks ($18,900) when the actual mortgage is $36/day, and seizing/stealing 27 horses (5 horses belonging to other individuals, 23 years of breeding down the drain! One of the stolen mares recently resold for $35,000 according to a trainer who had bought several ponies from me over the years), all of my farm equipment, my family antiques and auctioning it all off (Nearly all owned before I ever met Mr. Ruesink in 1999! My list of missing property is 5 Pages Long!) Oddly enough their cost to hold the auction equals what they supposedly made.$?! More Fraud, and Felony Embezzlement as much of the “Seized” property never went through the sale but probably is in the possession of some of the individuals involved. (Some Documented in Michigan State Police Complaint 18-2489-2009 filed by daughter Elsabeth Whitman.)
Then several months A F T E R the 2009 eviction, Priscilla Ruesink Jackson & Circuit Court Judge Margaret M.S. Noe bill me $20,000 for various BS like #1) putting a new bathroom in the farmhouse for my former step daughter Dori Ruesink Durbin (their greed is insatiable! I had made $100,000 in improvements to the house and barns in the 9 years I lived there!) #2) Replacing the front door, nothing was wrong with the door #3) $2400 for not giving them a horse I haven’t owned since 2006 #4) Paying for Lenawee Court Services, Mr. Steve Matthes, to seize my property (although I had committed NO CRIME, been accused of NO CRIME, and convicted NO CRIME), guarding a “Living Estate Sale” by my former Step-Daughter Dori Ruesink Durbin and her husband Tom selling much of my household goods and antiques (most boxed for the 44 ft. moving trailer which was parked in the driveway when they evicted me at gunpoint) and then guarding at the “Auction” #5) Giving Dori Durbin’s dog his shots (really!?!), #6) garbage service,#7) lawn mowing, #8) appraisals of my antiques which they stole & sold, #9)boarding & Vetting for the 27 horses that they stole and auctioned off, #10) advertising for the “Estate Sale” and “Auction” of my stolen horses and property, #11) bills for utilities which had been left unpaid by my mentally-ill ex-husband when he abandoned me and the farm in September 2007 (~2 years before the divorce and eviction).
NO accounting of my property which was seized/stolen (Mr. Steve Matthes, Lenawee Court Services) was ever filed with the court as required by law. I have transcripts of all the proceedings and a copy of the entire 37th Circuit Court file!
The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission Does NOTHING and closes the complaints.
(Page 2)
NOTARY FRAUD by Priscilla Ruesink Jackson (Cousin of AWOL Husband, Attorney, Court Officer, Notary)
Attention: Michelle Martin
Michigan Department of State
Office of the Great Seal
7064 Crowner Drive
Lansing, MI 48918
Notary Fraud and Prohibited Conduct by Priscilla Ruesink Jackson
The Michigan Notary Public Act, Act 238 of 2003
Prohibitions
• A notary public cannot certify or notarize that a record is an original or a true copy of another record.
• * A notary public cannot notarize his or her own signature or take his/her own deposition.
• A notary public cannot claim to have powers, qualifications, rights or privileges that the office of notary public does not provide, including the power to counsel on immigration matters.
• A notary public is prohibited from using any term that implies the notary is an attorney, and from advertising in a foreign language, unless the following statement is prominently displayed in the same language: “I am not an attorney and have no authority to give advice on immigration or other legal matters.” The appropriate fees as specified by statute must also be displayed.
• A notary public cannot use the term “notario publico” or any equivalent non-English term.
• * A notary public cannot perform a notarial act in connection with a transaction if the notary is named in the transaction or has a direct financial or beneficial interest in the transaction.
• * A notary public cannot perform a notarial act for a family member.
A violation of the Michigan Notary Public Act is a misdemeanor. Upon conviction, a person can be fined up to $5,000 and/or be imprisoned for up to one year.
A violation of the Michigan Notary Public Act is a felony when a person knowingly violates this act when notarizing any document relating to an interest in real property or a mortgage transaction. Upon conviction, a person can be fined up to $5,000.00 and/or be imprisoned for up to four years.
Please note that on one single document Priscilla Ruesink Jackson violated this law for the 3 * Prohibitions! The Office of the Great Seal responds that it’s up to me to report it to the local prosecutor. The same Prosecutor, Jonathon Poer, who had me arrested and prosecuted for the fabricated crime of “horses breaking into a dairy barn and stealing silage?!” at the request of Priscilla Ruesink Jackson. Not coincidentally, the same day I filed a Motion To Set Aside the divorce settlement because of fraud. There is no evidence, no pictures, NOTHING but the “Lie Witnesses, Priscilla and 2 of her buddies” I pay ~$1000 dollars in fines and I am put on Probation for a year (These creeps even slipped the complaint paperwork for a drunk driver into my file and I caught it when the Probation Officer was going to make me go for random drug testing), and I have to miss my family’s 381st year reunion of the Alden Kindred Family at the family-farm in Duxbury Massachusetts which is a Nation Historic Register property.
Similar frauds, bullying, and Parental Alienation, took place in other in-law’s divorces which Priscilla handled. Prim Nieto V. Tina Clark (niece), Karmen Peterson V. Todd Clark (nephew), Charles Willis III V. Paulette Ruesink (niece). And these are just the ones I know of from 2000-2009!
~~
APPRAISAL FRAUD
Barrington Carr, Director
Corporations, Securities, & Commercial Licensing Bureau
Michigan Department of Licensing & Regulatory Affairs (LARA)
2nd Floor
2501 Woodlake Circle
Okemos, MI 48864
(Page 3)
Complaint No. 316652: Dennis E. Makula (Employee GreenStone Farm Services)
License No. 1201000291
Blissfield, MI (Lenawee County)
Intentional fraud (low estimates) of appraised property for divorce, comparisons not representative and Mineral Rights intentionally omitted.
Since my husband had remortgaged the farm right before we married, there is a previous 1999 GreenStone Appraisal to compare it to, $400,000 plus Mineral Rights. Not surprisingly, the ex-husband Paul Ruesink used to work for GreenStone and Paul and his attorney/cousin/court officer/notary Priscilla Ruesink Jackson and their respective siblings, were already in negotiations with Savoy Energy of Traverse City for mineral rights to my home. They all signed leases with Savoy immediately after having me evicted at gunpoint, and they are pumping oil from my farm at 5285 Knight Highway, Adrian, Michigan. The Farm is part of the MacArthur-Ruesink Trust, drawn up by lawyer Dan Bruggerman, signed and Notarized by all parties concerned. More fraud, as it turns out that Paul Ruesink never put the mortgage in the name of the Trust nor did he Register it at the Lenawee Deeds in 2004 as required! Just one more instance of the Ruesink Mafia and their Minion’s Fraud and Corruption. I have however, registered the documents of the MacArthur Ruesink Trust to the Lenawee Deeds (Liber 2409, Page 0746, 8 Pages) and this “Trust” is Revocable by Mutual Agreement Only!! Attorney Dan Bruggerman never followed up and therefore I believe him to be a co-conspirator with the Ruesinks, to bilk me out of close to $1,000,000 in financial support and Insurances .
LARA does NOTHING! and closes the complaint.
~~
FRAUD BY LENAWEE COUNTY EMPLOYEES
James Hughes, Regional Administrator
Michigan Supreme Court
State Court Administrative Office-Region II
P.O. Box 30048
Lansing, Michigan 48909
(517) 373-9353
hughesj@ courts.mi.gov
Roxanne Holloway, Lenawee County Court Clerk
Martina Aranda, Clerk
425 N Main St
Adrian MI 49221-2198.
Ph: (517)264-4594. Fax: (517)264-4533
I file a Complaint against Lenawee County Clerk Roxanne Holloway and her employee Martina Aranda for holding my papers of a malpractice lawsuit against Corrupt Attorney Stan Sala for 4 weeks + 1 day, and when I got them back the were date stamped the day AFTER I filed them. (2 days before the 2 Year Statute of Limitations for filing a Legal Malpractice Lawsuit against Stan Sala .I provided Notarized Statement which included my Official Work attendence at the State Office Building in Jackson for the date they claimed I submitted my Lawsuit Complaint.
Michigan Court Rules (MCR) 1.1.1 and the Revised Judicature Act (Act 236 of 1961) Michigan Compiled Law (MCL) 600.1974 REQUIRE that the Documents must be date stamped at the time they are submitted.
Mr. Hughes 5 sentence response closing my complaint states “the court clerk has complied with court rules.”!?
(Page 4)
COMPLAINT
MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL MIKE COX/BILL SCHUETTE
PUBLIC INTEGRITY UNIT CHIEF BILL CUNNINGHAM
Detective Lt. Jaime Corona Michigan State Police Special Crimes Unit
Allison has put together over 300 pages of documentation showing the numerous disturbing violations of her Civil and Constitutional Rights, Conspiracy, Fraud and outright thief of $hundreds of thousands in Real Estate, livestock and personal property. In November 2010 Detective Corona tells Allison Assistant Attorney General Daniel Tanay is supposed to meet with Lenawee County Prosecutor Jonathon Poer about the overwhelming evidence of wrong-doing by local court, public and Ruesink family and officials . There is an election, Bill Schutte replaces Mike Cox and Allison’s inquiries and phone calls to Detective Corona and Assistant AG Tanay are not returned.
Apparently Mr. Cunningham, Assistant AG Public Integrity Unit and Mr. Bill Schutte, Michigan Attorney General feel unless a prosecution has some political advantage like getting rid of a Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway so the new Governor Rick Snyder can appoint his own party choice, there is no reason to enforce the laws of our country or state.
Eventually Allison gets a letter from Assistant AG Richard L. Cunningham saying “he’s not convinced there’s been any wrong doing. Case Closed.”
A judge confiscated two thirds of my net pay to subsidize my ex –a career woman with a graduate degree. This judge ran unopposed for re-election but still collected ample campaign contributions, mostly from attorneys.
Frank – I can do you one better. This gender biased corrupt judge confiscated over 100% of my pay to subsidize my X and her jet setting lavish lifestyle. She has an MBA from a top 20 B-school and worked in finance making as much or more than me. I received a ZERO paycheck for over a year until I was just recently fired because I was unable to pay back the upfront loan I received thru my employer. And, the X stole most of the loan ahead of time. Like the ol’ country song… At least we didn’t have a dog. She would have kicked that too.
So, I am bitter and have ZERO faith in justice and this corrupt family “circus” of a court system. There needs to be different rules and regulations put in place. That means you need to rip it up, fire everyone and start over. This is what you do in any business that fails and does so on a daily basis.
The owners (we the people) should be in charge; instead you have these clowns running these family circus courts asylums.
hi Joseph,
This message is not in response to this survey but instead a proposal.
At the core of all the issues we’re facing in Family Court (AKA Courts of Equity or, I think Arkansas still uses, Court of Chancery), are a set of arcane rules originating in English Kings law that escaped constitutional scrutiny because social change and the ensuring updates to our Constitution has been evolutionary slow. Think of the frog in the pot analogy – family law has slowly became unconstitutional as the constitution changes after being set in place by men (Founding “Fathers”).
Many incremental improvements to the Family Law statutes (and subsequent impact on court) has been thru US Supreme Court order. I suspect you know of Ron and Sherry of “Fix Family Court”. Their book lists many cases that have impacted the arcane “Common Law” rules established in the dark ages by Lord Chancery. Shockingly some state supreme court opinions only 50 yrs ago cherished the Noble English origins of the “Common Law” doctrines.
All said to make meaningful change in the family court will required substantial update of family law statutes that reduce discretion afforded Judges and will not be popular. It’s very unlikely these changes will come from our Legislature who is heavily influenced by the ABA. Instead, it will require the force and power of the US supreme court as was asserted to end segregation. They of course only review statutes if petitioned via a real court case. Getting to them is no simple matter and likely requires upwards of $200k in legal fees. For each individual, the $200k is hard to acquire and possibly more costly than settling. But collectively, spending the $200k once will have far reaching benefits. So here’s the conceptual proposal: establish a slush fund to cover appellate attorney fees for current ‘live’ cases that have potential to secure supreme court opinion to declare statutes unconstitutional and force statutory changes by legislatures. The “Troxel” case demonstrates the possible impact of this avenue. Admittable there are many administrative details in the background.
Let me know if this approach is of interest. I’m preparing my case with appeal in mind and intend to take it to at least to state supreme court. I hope it will make an substantive impact at that level. It would be hard to go beyond that level..
Cheers,
Michael
I would like to change the process into a panel with a psychologist, finical expert, sociologist, and child psychologist. Judge only know law and perceptually influenced additional information if they choose to research on their own the topics my recommendations for panel members would have.
Judges, custody medlimits, CPS workerd and guardian ad litem’s or any other court official that has the authority to dictate a person’s life should not only be voted in by the community from where they work, but should also be given annual performance reviews by a panel not court related and should have term limits.
Judges should be appointed with term limits. Their performaces should be reviewed by a panel of community and legal members.
As DivorceCorp movie shows, money from lawyers and other famiiy law practioners is used to re-elect judges who provide rulings beneficial to the contributoers.
The public has little information avaialble to use in slecting/electing judges. Judges should be appointed with term limits and reviewed by a panel of comunity and law prfession members, with no money at issue in the reviews or appointments.
Judges should be barred from practicing family law matters until FIVE years have passed from stoppping being a family law judge.
Judges should not specifically be nor necessarily attorney trained, they need to be people who have the approval and consent of the people by election to such a position. We can do no worse than elect the most wise and learned among us with a temper for objectivity beyond money and power. At this time we have an entire judiciary that is a monopoly and franchise business that goes far beyond what the independent and spirit of a court of justice is.
In every county in every state, there is a fundamental problem with who operates the judiciary in those little fiefdoms. Primarily we have a problem when even given the appearance and/or judicial canons from whatever book you derive an understanding of law. There is no provision in law to state what a judiciary can and cannot do, it states simply a suggestion that it ought not to do the things that it does that are not in character and that is an option not an obligation under the guise of efficiencies despite costing five times more to operate than the original state obligation and function. And that does not include the cost of litigation.
We have the county treasury, we have the judiciary and the federal/state government all in the same building with an attached jail, and usually a county sheriffs office very close by. Compound this with competing interests for business and we despite statutory law indicating otherwise have the recipe for a den of inequity that goes far beyond complicit behaviors driven by central command. What we do see quite often are judges elected who are unlikely to be run out of town because they are part of what to all intents and purposes is a racket and would apart from the title of purveyors of law be like any other business but with a monopoly of determining features outside of their original mandate. They in their special status have access to the factors which effect the type and composition of business they attract to their counties, who gets what or not and when and far worse than that they determine or follow policies and how they are implemented to affect the local populations who are oblivious to this little menagerie of power and one where any litigant will find a wall of demarcation that reflects all that is wrong with this nation. One where public servants determine the fate of consumers, what they can and cannot do and affect the future of consumers not citizens with no accountability and not even the decency to suggest common sense. We live in strange times.
These polls are informational and all, but if anyone is interested, this information is not reaching those who are in the system. When I ask numerous Florida Family Law Attorneys, they have never heard of the movie or this effort.
Elected means that the people have had their chance to vote. No matter who contributes what to a judge’s campaign, the corrupt can still be ousted by the voters. Appointed means that insiders can control the decision and the judges only have to answer to them, not to the people whose lives they destroy.
Judicial code of conduct boards in my state hardly ever discipline judges. No matter how lopsided or unfair decision a judge may make, the conduct commitee is unable to find fault. Why should they? After all, if a judge skewers the breadwinner in a marriage with substantial assets, the judge is just helping all of his judge buddies feather their own nest/pension with those Part IV-D matching funds.There is no motivation for the system to have effective oversight.
Appointed yes, but only those highly qualified and formally
trained to be a judge, prior to serving on the bench. Trained
ideally prior to nomination. In 2009, the ABA (American Bar)
passed Resolution 113 (2009), which urges each state to
develop formal judicial curricula, with admissions criteria,
to prepare those seeking a “judicial career.”
The admissions process for entrance to an accredited
judicial college would identify applicants having exceptional
judicial skills. To ensure the greatest possible skill-level
among those matriculating, the admissions criteria are
rigorous, directed specifically to the judicial profession,
and there is no requirement that applicants be lawyers
or attorneys.
As planned, the training is full-time for one to two years,
throughout which time there is testing, measuring,
and developing of judicial skills, and individualized
training, including judicial simulations to test/develop skills
in, e.g.: objectivity, inquiry, bias-trigger resistance, deception
detection, influence recognition, ascertaining truth, relevance,
probability; fact-finding, problem-solving, data and conflict
analysis, and conflict resolution skills (which would as proposed
be greatest among judges/clerks assigned to family, juvenile,
and probate courts, where the rights of innocent 3d parties
are typically adjudicated). Such skills play no role in the judicial
selection criteria, process, or “training” presently available
in the US. Things finally started changing for our courts
during the first decade of the new millenium, after our court
system was studied, found in 2001 to be (and recognized as
being) broken, and was in 2009, via unanimous resolution,
ordered reformed. Now, it is up to the adults, the parents,
to make sure this all happens.
Dr says appointment of judges is preferable
in all states, but this assumes our future
judges are selected and trained for service
in the judicial profession, per se. Actually
ABA Resolution 113 is intended to bridge the
divide between those states electing,
and those selecting, judges, in that they
will be required to be skilled and trained
in judging prior to service on the bench
whether elected or appointed.
I would define the “adults,” the “parents”
Dr referenced, as any individual who has
insight regarding the courts, their functioning
and dysfunctioning, particularly those sub-
jected, perhaps involuntarily, to a family
court in its current operation, These parents
include: educators, lawyers, doctors, physicians,
social workers, scientists, mathematicians,
linguists, psychologists, engineers, economists,
police officers, investigative reporters, etc. They
all have a role to play in the long-overdue establish-
ment of a “judicial profession” in the US.
Der
Judges should pass tests for senility and stupidity
Once every two years.
Maybe, Segundo, they should also take IQ tests.
No name.. I agree… we also must understand those Judges running for election or re-election are guided and even dictated to who is to run and not run by the State Bar (s) and State Judicial Board. Ever wonder why so many judges are unopposed for re-election…
http://www.scribd.com/doc/228309373/Why-Family-Law-Needs-Reform-and-Why-The-Department-of-Homeland-Security-Was-Notified
Appointment or election are fine. What is needed is a citizens review board that conducts “blind” evaluations of a judge’s conduct and rulings based upon a rudimentary understanding (in other words the layman’s understanding of our Constitutional rights) of the law. The board would not know the name of the judge and have no contact personally or in that judge’s court. The board would submit its findings and recommendations to a legislative body which would be bound by law to suspend that judge’s judgeship pending an investigation. Let the legislature take its time because the next judge would be very cautious about offending citizen’s rights.
Indeed, my idea for the last 4 years… “Citizen Review Boards.” Not just for Judges but for attorneys, CPS workers, Domestic Violence Program workers, cops and others receiving any government tax funding.
It needs to be comprised of a group of people with no agendas. Like a jury, totally impartial. Those groups have their own agendas and bias.
Also, judges should be required to have mental health evaluations every year, having them done outside of their jurisdictions, and the reports sent to the Attorney Generals office for review and recommendations and then passed on to the Governor.
These people make decisions that change peoples life forever. They need to be on their game!
How about neither and let them work like the rest of us in private sector.
Hired based on merit and retained based on performance.
Also remove medical and retirement for life.
Better that they know first hand the experiences of those they intend to judge.
How about a Citizen overview committee PRIOR to getting on the ballot. Public debates with the people running. Hard tough questions answered UNDER OATH prior to thee election A lot of time there are only BAD choices to choose from that should of never made it onto the ballet. WE THE PEOPLE should have the ONLY voice in electing our Judges
http://www.avnetnews.net/whydadsmatter.php
http://wethefamilies.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/glen-gibellina-for-parental-rights-washington-dc-2013/
EXCELLENT!
But never happen.
WAY too much money to be lost by the criminals and the ‘shepple’ are asleep and don’t really care.
I think judges are one of the many weaknesses of our legal system. I’d rather everything be settled by jury of some kind (maybe 20 people and majority rules) and that juries be chosen more randomly and not by lawyers. I’d like to see everyone do a half-day seminar in what their jury duties would involve, every two years. And then people specialize as jurors in family, criminal, or whatever kind of law. They should be paid for their time from the money saved from paying judges. Sure, there are bugs to iron out. But this business of having one person in a black robe acting like god almighty is just ridiculous. And it’s caused a lot of heartbreak.
I wish everyone all the best. I know everyone here must have been through a lot. I feel stronger just coming here and knowing I’m not alone in my frustration with the family law industry.
PS: Is there a page where I can see all the poll results?
Potential Judges should pass the SMELL test……too often, Judges are placed into positions of power for life…. and they, with the strike of a pen….destroy the lives of women and children……potential Judges should be vetted by a panel of people in all walks of life…..
Zenethia, Judges also destroy the lives of men and their children too. It’s not just women.
What is most improtant is that they can be removed, not how they are elected or appointed. It is all about accountability to the citizen/people. Here in Massachusetts they cannot be removed for practical purposes, as it takes a majortiy vote of legislators. Judges here know this and abuse it constantly. We also have appointed judges and the “Governor’s Council”, which is suppose to vet judges, is a total joke, essentailly a political stepping stone for people who want to enter politics. So only a couple on that board will ever object to even the worst possible candidates. They just want to make the Governor happy. Essentially this is making judge jobs a form of patronage.
My “judge” (Judge Ronald King) was never even a working lawyer, just a clerk working for the state before becoming a lawyer. WIth the appointment (after donating to various political campaign) he got a raise to a $160,000 salary from a clearks salary and 75% of that as an instant pension. No company in teh work would move an employee from a $50,000/year job to a $160,000 year job in one step and also give tham an instant pension at that new level. It is criminal! This creates corruption to get these jobs. He is a disgrace and does not even attempt to follow the law. All the alleged chacks and balances in teh entire judicial system have been removed to allow thes people to do anything they want. The Judicial Conduct Commission is a joke – doesn’t even investigate the complaints. IThe probate court is now essentially a mafia, not a court of law. Even teh appeals court rubber stamps decisions that are blatently illegal under both state and constituional law. It has been optimized to extract money from familes and generate money for the state via child support kick backs. ALl 50 states get about 23% of what tehy order and collect under SSA Title IV-D. That is a clear conflict of interest and also a violation of the judicial canons. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo6PkNmopjI&list=PLC479E388A2045927
Elections at least would allow an opportunity to have judges removed regularly, which makes them more responsible and accountabily for their actions, though not fully. We could then campaign to remove a judge at least.
What most people don’t understand is, judges resign or retire before their term is up, so that the Governors can appoint someone from their camp, for the open seat. Then the newly appointed judge runs for re-election as the incumbent. Citizens think judges are elected. We need term limitations so that judges can’t get their “little enterprises” entrenched in the system where it is impossible to get them out.
If you have been victimized by Georgia Courts, especially Fulton County Superior Court, please contact me. Tanditemple@gmail.com. Facebook United Coalition for Judicial Reform. We are organizing a group to meet with the FBI on June 18, 2014. Please join us! Thank you again Divorce Corp for giving us a platform to share our ideas, thoughts and stories. Regards, Tandi Temple
Facilitating Family Failure
“Shall we play a game?”
First and foremost, I hold the deepest, eternal gratitude for, the brave men and women of the armed forces who risk, and too often lose, their lives preserving and protecting our nation and our freedoms. Unchecked, the unscrupulous among us, will destroy the nation and freedoms so many have fought and died for.
That having been said, in dealing with the Office of the Attorney General; my State’s Title IV-D agency, I would from time to time experience a strong sensation of deshavu. As one might expect, I couldn’t pinpoint the cause. Then at once it became very clear to me that I had seen it in action before. Long ago, on an old black and white TV. I realized that the States’ IV-D child support and enforcement machine utilized performance measures not unlike the morbid Vietnam War “Body Count” implemented by then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Thereafter, I located additional documentation that supports this hypothesis.
(See: http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title04/0400.htm)
So who in their right mind would resurrect John Nash’s narcissistic vampire from the Vietnam era and turn it loose on the American Family? It would appear to be the Department of Health and Human Services in conjunction with your state Title IV-D agency. (Office of the Attorney General of Texas)
I have bad news for all you conspiracy theorists. THERE AIN’T ONE!!! Let me try to explain. First it would be helpful if you had a general understanding of Game Theory. Game Theory is a branch of applied mathematics and economics that studies situations where players choose different actions in an attempt to maximize their returns. First developed as a tool for understanding economic behavior and then by the RAND Corporation to define nuclear war strategies. Of particular interest is the Nash equilibrium. This is a concept from game theory, named after John Forbes Nash, who proposed it. You may recall the movie Beautiful Mine where John Nash was portrayed as a tortured hero. In reality he was difficult and spiky at best; but, I digress.
Game Theory, Nash equilibrium in particular enables the Title IV-D program designers to accurately predict outcomes and actions of individuals from the outset. Such individuals include but not limited to litigants, potential litigants, caseworkers, attorneys, judges, politicians and the like. Upon implementation of the Title IV-D program it began to develop what could be best described as a collective intelligence per se, driven by the collective self-interests of its individual stake-holders (i.e. award individuals with incentive payments for program performance). The Title IV-D program is inherently dangerous to those individuals who find themselves at odds with or become the objective sought by the program designers. In such instances the program may with indifference produce irremediable results that are so manifestly unfair, benefiting a particular group or individual at the expense of another, without any semblance of logic, reason or respect for Rights. Understandably, this is fertile ground for conspiracy theory to take root and breed, especially when such atrocities include deprivation of fundamental Rights and subsequent incarceration by the state in fulfillment of various federal mandates.
So what does HHS’s Title IV-D, program seek? Without attacking the intentions or the morality of the program designers at HHS, one might suppose HHS actions are that of false philanthropy. Otherwise it appears to me to be nothing less than a power grab for regulatory control over the fundamental building block of our society. The American Family. All the while using McNamara’s Vietnam War strategy or similar game theory models to wage war on the family, break it up and suck it dry of all its assets. Whereby creating a new class of needy for the system to “serve.” This may also explain resent legislation concerning the programs access and acquisition of what was once private information held by various government controlled entities (i.e. the I R S) to feed their computer models. A program such as this may exhibit destructive psychopathic behavior, especially if the collective self-interests of its individual stakeholders are threatened. Absent any threat the program by no means confines itself to its proper functions. When it has exceeded its proper functions, it has not done so merely in some inconsequential and debatable matters. It acts in direct opposition to its own purpose, destroying its own objective. HHS’s Title IV-D program appears to me to be unjust; an injustice so independent of personal intentions that each of us suffers from it without knowing the cause of the suffering. Lastly, HHS’s Title IV-D program may place the collective force at the disposal of the unscrupulous who wish, without risk, to exploit the person, liberty, property and vulnerability of others while claiming to be a great philanthropist.
Having a passion for most anything aerospace; I was disappointed and somewhat surprised to learn that US Defense contractor, Lockheed Martin was a major stake-holder and instrumental in the development and implementation of the Title IV-D program here in Texas. However If your intent is to prevail at war, contracting with Lockheed Martin for that purpose, makes perfect sense.
For the most part the Texas Family Law system acts in direct opposition to its own purpose. In short, the law has been converted into an instrument of plunder. The most striking consequences of such a perversion is that, it erases from everyone’s conscience the distinction between justice and injustice. It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this.
Individuals join together and form societies for the purpose of cooperating. When they do, they lower their defenses and form trust relationships to facilitate interaction and productivity. But this makes them vulnerable to the unscrupulous that violate the trust in order to gain a disproportionate share of what the society produces. So there must be some deterrent against predacious behaviors or people will not lower their defenses enough to facilitate congregation and cooperation. The justice system is supposed to serve as that deterrent. So what happens when the impartiality of the justice system personnel as a whole becomes corrupted via conflicting interests caused by HHS’s Title IV-D program? The answer is of course that the justice system becomes the vehicle for predation and no longer provides the trust necessary for people to assemble and collaborate. Eventually the society collapses when it can no longer sustain itself or compete with healthy societies.
In case you’re wandering. I didn’t just wake up one morning with a bad case of the red ass and without good cause set out to challenge the establishment. An endeavor as such would be an un-wise assignment of one’s time or resources and serve no greater purpose, at least none that I can imagine. That said, I have faced many difficult challenges throughout my life, some of achievement, and others for survival; all of which pale in comparison to the challenges I faced in maintaining a meaningful presence in my children’s lives subsequent to a no-fault divorce. My children suffered immeasurably despite my best efforts to protect them. I lack the words to describe the overwhelming sense of hopelessness I experienced while subject to the cruelty of my state’s Title IV-D family law system.
Simply put, Title IV-D must go!
Yes, Tony, as you so eloquently describe, Title IV-D does change the Family Court Justice system (and Appeals Court and the Supreme Judicial Court) into predatory pirates, instead of a place of trust and respect. It took me many years to realize that my lawyers were just stealing my money by converting it into “billable hours” and that the judge just wanted to get my case over and done with so that she could get those matching funds. She had no interest in what I testified to or what my lawyers said. My lawyers did not use my best arguments. My lawyers understated their legal fees on the financials – I pointed out to them that they were wrong and they insisted on understating their fees. When I read my file later, I realized my lawyers later sent a memo to the judge with the correct amount of legal fees (as legal fees are also eligible for Title IV-D matching fund reimbursement).
At the pre–trial hearing, my ex filed a motion to vacate against me that mercifully did not meet criteria. Both sets of lawyers insisted that we stop living in the same house and that I pay alimony and child support. I did not ask for the divorce and saw absolutely NO reason to pay my ex to rob me of my children or to pay support for an ex working under the table. I refused in no uncertain terms to pay anything, even if it meant losing my professional license and rotting in jail. I was told to either agree to something (that my lawyer promised me would be modifiable later on) or that the judge could impose alimony and child support on me. I knew from the on-line community that my lawyer was lying about alimony being modifiable and told her that I did not believe her and would not agree to pay anything as I could not and would not personally guarantee my ability to pay alimony for life. I decided then and there to take my stand for what I believe in and let them jail me, if they were so inclined. They went back in to confer. While they were conferring without me, I had a near hysterical conversation with my long-time business and health care law attorney about exactly what would happen to my professional license should I go to jail.
When we all went in front of the judge, the judge was clearly irritated with me and I was made to feel that I had done something wrong. The judge did not make me pay either alimony or child support and did not require either one of us to leave the house. I did not know about Title IV-D then. Now I know that if the judge does not collect at least 80% of alimony and child support awarded, the federal government lowers the amount matched from 66 cents on the dollar to less. Jailing me at that time (the pre-trial) would have left me without the ability to earn the income my professional license enables me to earn, but with a high child support/alimony payment that is uncollectible and lowered the amount of available matching funds.
After the trial and once the “assets” have been divided and put in my name alone, the child support and alimony is then collectible provided I have an asset that can be converted into cash, even I have no income (from being jailed and losing my license). That is why the judge wanted to get the trial over and done with after my ex (the plaintiff) and the ex’s witnesses and the ex’s lawyers finished lying on the stand and did not even want to hear my witnesses. The judge refused to hear about my ex’s working under the table, even though the evidence was in the public domain on the internet, since my ex had not listed the under the table work on the court’s financials.
Lastly, Title IV-D has the potential to undermine the public’s faith and trust in the courts, and the very democracy we think we live in.
I agree. I also note there are great similarities to the struggle of the hard working parent after the no fault divorce in the movie 12 Years a Slave. I have been enslaved by Family Court to be the wallet. The judge is the enforcer and the replacement for my parental role while the ex is the plantation owner doing all things terrible to me, my relationship with my kids and my kids. I will be enslaved for 12 years before being released. I will have been whipped and worse.
The movie has a scene where a slave is killed in front of two others and thrown off a boat. The remaining slaves say the murdered slave was the lucky one. The same is true for family court sentencing. Capital punishment is a lesser penalty then what is done every day to good or even great parents. Judges should be removed along with Title 4. They act to remove parental rights which are protected by the Constitution and Supreme Court rulings every day. They have all lost sight of their oath of office and do nothing to improve or encourage justice and equality. They aren’t useful in this function. King’s law has tainted their perspective and the actions they take systemically. Families in divorce should not be their entertainment.
Judges that are uncontested in their election, shall be dismissed. In MN there is a ritual among pear-pirates not to run against incumbent judge, so most of the perverts get re-elected all over again.
Retired Judges should not be used as a shield by Judges that are being pressured to issue unfair rulings. In IN a retired Judge took custody away from me (with no reason or evidence of any abuse/neglect/wrong doing) and gave our son to the father. He has a domestic battery record against me with the children in the home at the time and multiply police records that include taking our son without permission and refusing to return him. He just moved on to a new form of battery. The Judge issued at the same time a ridiculous judgement that I had to pay $7,000 a year in private school tuition, knowing I am unemployed, broke and on food stamps. On May 29 he took away my driver’s license so I have no ability to work, visit my children or worship (no public transit in rural Indiana). If I don’t pay the judgment in 90 days they have already threatened to jail me. No license means no work means no money. This is totally insane. The owner of the Colts only lost his license for 1 year for DUI. I have no way to ever get my license back.
Judges should be elected to their positions but only if their records are fully known to the voters. In Cook County Illinois we had a judge sentenced a father to jail for contempt because he took his child to Mass. The judge who sentenced him should not have been re-elected to the bench, but he was.
Judges should definitely be elected. In South Carolina, where the judges are appointed by the legislature, a lawyer who is a member of the House or Senate’s legislative committee may appear before a judge when the lawyer has the power to re-elect or dismiss that judge. Which side do you think will get everything that they are asking for?
Judges wo are appointed are beholding to the person and party responsible for thier appointment. They are tainted.
Why in the world would we want to let criminals (aka judges) be appointed??? The criminals are so corrupt that they found a way to stay in power by getting OTHER criminals to appoint them!
Sweet deal if you are a criminal like a Judge!
VOTE THE CRIMINALS OUT!!!
They are already elected, after being appointed. And the system is not working. There needs to be a system of checks and balances and a way of reporting to the public their approval ratings.
Terms limits is the best solution for judges and all politicians. Judges shouldn’t just be lawyers either, especially in family law, where common sense should prevail over legal technicalities. Remember, divorced parents are not criminals. Why should we be treated the same way as criminals by the legal system.
I like the idea of all of the people here. It is just the simple fact that there is so much corruption that these idiots will never be held accountable in the system where their buddies are the ones watching the hen house!
I think that if someone wants to be a judge, they should sign an agreement that states not only will they obey the constitution of the United States, But understanding that they face public execution by hanging if they violate any civil rights. That sounds fair to me, and should keep them honest
Judges should be elected. Unfortunately name recognition and campaign monies are a huge factor. In Michigan the Powers-that-be use this to their benefit by having Judges retire or resign mid term then the Governors Office appoints his (or the local mob’s) choice. Here is (in part) a letter I resently sent on that exact subject.
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May 19, 2014
Rick Snyder, Governor
State of Michigan
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, Michigan 48909
Governor’s Legal Division
Judicial Appointments-Legal Division
George W. Romney Building
11 1 South Capitol Avenue
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, Michigan, 48909,
SUBJECT: Judicial Appointments for Lenawee County Michigan
Dear Sir or Madam:
I recently read in the Daily Telegram (Adrian, Michigan) that Governor Snyder and your offices would be making Judicial Appointments to Lenawee County. There are an alarming number of local Judges, lawyers, Court Employees and County Departments and local court subcontractors that routinely engage in fraud, perjury, and numerous other unethical and even criminal behaviors.
Government and the Republican Party certainly have devolved since my mother Jane MacArthur Brown was the Precinct Captain who helped elect Don Rumsfeld to his first public office, and fought in the campaigns of other good men to represent Americans, such as Everett Dirksen!
I am an 11th Generation American. You’d think my Civil Rights and Constitutional Rights would be protected by the Elected and Civil Employees of this State, but they are not. My family has served Liberty since colonial days, my son Sgt Owen Whitman, served in Kuwait, brother Walter F. Brown, Jr. Petty Officer of 20 years with US Navy Nuclear Subs, brother Robert A. Brown, US Army in Germany during the 1960s, my father Walter F. Brown, Sr. Captain US Army Airforce WWII, and going back to 1620.
Until I had the misfortune to be bullied and robbed by a bunch of unethical thugs, I had no idea just how corrupt Lenawee County Michigan and the State of Michigan are. In fact I had never even had a point on my driver’s license or been in and legal trouble (before the fabricated complaint of horses breaking into a dairy barn to steal silage, which was prosecuted by Lenawee County Prosecutor Jonathon Poer, and Sheriff Jack Welsh at the request of Priscilla Ruesink Jackson, the FOC Court Referee/Lawyer for ex-husband/Notary/Beneficiary and member of Ruesink, LLC (which was formed using property and assets stolen from me). The MacArthur-Ruesink Trust established in 2004 is Revocable by Mutual Agreement only, yet my former in-laws are stealing all of the assets. The Trust which is entailed to a 205 acre farm which I supported to the tune of $600,000 over 9 Years (More than my ex-husband Paul Ruesink contributed in all of the years he lived there) in Lenawee County Michigan has producing oil and gas wells.
(Page 1)
JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT & FRAUD
Paul J. Fischer, Esq.
Director & General Counsel
Judicial Tenure Commission
State of Michigan
Suite 8‐450, 3034 West Grand Blvd.
Detroit, Michigan 48202
Tel (313) 875‐5110
judicialtenure@courts.mi.gov
paul.fischer@courts.mi.gov
Complaints No.2009-18229 to 18234 against Priscilla Ruesink Jackson (Lenawee County Friend of the Court Hearings Officer/Attorney/Notary/1st Cousin of ex-Husband Paul Ruesink and Dori Ruesink Durbin), Circuit Court Judge Margaret M.S. Noe (Previously attorney for former step daughter Dori Ruesink Durbin on her last 3 Real Estate Sales & Purchases 1998-2008) and several other Judges (Harvey Koselka, James Sheridan) who were directly involved in the multiple rights violations, frauds and harassment I have suffered. Fraud on the Court, False Prosecution, Repeatedly Violating my Right to Due-Process, having Court Hearings without Notifying me or my attorney, Issuing a Restraining Order without cause and without notifying me or my attorney, violating my Civil Rights, Constitutional Rights, charging me $450/day to live in my own home for 6 weeks ($18,900) when the actual mortgage is $36/day, and seizing/stealing 27 horses (5 horses belonging to other individuals, 23 years of breeding down the drain! One of the stolen mares recently resold for $35,000 according to a trainer who had bought several ponies from me over the years), all of my farm equipment, my family antiques and auctioning it all off (Nearly all owned before I ever met Mr. Ruesink in 1999! My list of missing property is 5 Pages Long!) Oddly enough their cost to hold the auction equals what they supposedly made.$?! More Fraud, and Felony Embezzlement as much of the “Seized” property never went through the sale but probably is in the possession of some of the individuals involved. (Some Documented in Michigan State Police Complaint 18-2489-2009 filed by daughter Elsabeth Whitman.)
Then several months A F T E R the 2009 eviction, Priscilla Ruesink Jackson & Circuit Court Judge Margaret M.S. Noe bill me $20,000 for various BS like #1) putting a new bathroom in the farmhouse for my former step daughter Dori Ruesink Durbin (their greed is insatiable! I had made $100,000 in improvements to the house and barns in the 9 years I lived there!) #2) Replacing the front door, nothing was wrong with the door #3) $2400 for not giving them a horse I haven’t owned since 2006 #4) Paying for Lenawee Court Services, Mr. Steve Matthes, to seize my property (although I had committed NO CRIME, been accused of NO CRIME, and convicted NO CRIME), guarding a “Living Estate Sale” by my former Step-Daughter Dori Ruesink Durbin and her husband Tom selling much of my household goods and antiques (most boxed for the 44 ft. moving trailer which was parked in the driveway when they evicted me at gunpoint) and then guarding at the “Auction” #5) Giving Dori Durbin’s dog his shots (really!?!), #6) garbage service,#7) lawn mowing, #8) appraisals of my antiques which they stole & sold, #9)boarding & Vetting for the 27 horses that they stole and auctioned off, #10) advertising for the “Estate Sale” and “Auction” of my stolen horses and property, #11) bills for utilities which had been left unpaid by my mentally-ill ex-husband when he abandoned me and the farm in September 2007 (~2 years before the divorce and eviction).
NO accounting of my property which was seized/stolen (Mr. Steve Matthes, Lenawee Court Services) was ever filed with the court as required by law. I have transcripts of all the proceedings and a copy of the entire 37th Circuit Court file!
The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission Does NOTHING and closes the complaints.
(Page 2)
NOTARY FRAUD by Priscilla Ruesink Jackson (Cousin of AWOL Husband, Attorney, Court Officer, Notary)
Attention: Michelle Martin
Michigan Department of State
Office of the Great Seal
7064 Crowner Drive
Lansing, MI 48918
Notary Fraud and Prohibited Conduct by Priscilla Ruesink Jackson
The Michigan Notary Public Act, Act 238 of 2003
Prohibitions
• A notary public cannot certify or notarize that a record is an original or a true copy of another record.
• * A notary public cannot notarize his or her own signature or take his/her own deposition.
• A notary public cannot claim to have powers, qualifications, rights or privileges that the office of notary public does not provide, including the power to counsel on immigration matters.
• A notary public is prohibited from using any term that implies the notary is an attorney, and from advertising in a foreign language, unless the following statement is prominently displayed in the same language: “I am not an attorney and have no authority to give advice on immigration or other legal matters.” The appropriate fees as specified by statute must also be displayed.
• A notary public cannot use the term “notario publico” or any equivalent non-English term.
• * A notary public cannot perform a notarial act in connection with a transaction if the notary is named in the transaction or has a direct financial or beneficial interest in the transaction.
• * A notary public cannot perform a notarial act for a family member.
A violation of the Michigan Notary Public Act is a misdemeanor. Upon conviction, a person can be fined up to $5,000 and/or be imprisoned for up to one year.
A violation of the Michigan Notary Public Act is a felony when a person knowingly violates this act when notarizing any document relating to an interest in real property or a mortgage transaction. Upon conviction, a person can be fined up to $5,000.00 and/or be imprisoned for up to four years.
Please note that on one single document Priscilla Ruesink Jackson violated this law for the 3 * Prohibitions! The Office of the Great Seal responds that it’s up to me to report it to the local prosecutor. The same Prosecutor, Jonathon Poer, who had me arrested and prosecuted for the fabricated crime of “horses breaking into a dairy barn and stealing silage?!” at the request of Priscilla Ruesink Jackson. Not coincidentally, the same day I filed a Motion To Set Aside the divorce settlement because of fraud. There is no evidence, no pictures, NOTHING but the “Lie Witnesses, Priscilla and 2 of her buddies” I pay ~$1000 dollars in fines and I am put on Probation for a year (These creeps even slipped the complaint paperwork for a drunk driver into my file and I caught it when the Probation Officer was going to make me go for random drug testing), and I have to miss my family’s 381st year reunion of the Alden Kindred Family at the family-farm in Duxbury Massachusetts which is a Nation Historic Register property.
Similar frauds, bullying, and Parental Alienation, took place in other in-law’s divorces which Priscilla handled. Prim Nieto V. Tina Clark (niece), Karmen Peterson V. Todd Clark (nephew), Charles Willis III V. Paulette Ruesink (niece). And these are just the ones I know of from 2000-2009!
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APPRAISAL FRAUD
Barrington Carr, Director
Corporations, Securities, & Commercial Licensing Bureau
Michigan Department of Licensing & Regulatory Affairs (LARA)
2nd Floor
2501 Woodlake Circle
Okemos, MI 48864
(Page 3)
Complaint No. 316652: Dennis E. Makula (Employee GreenStone Farm Services)
License No. 1201000291
Blissfield, MI (Lenawee County)
Intentional fraud (low estimates) of appraised property for divorce, comparisons not representative and Mineral Rights intentionally omitted.
Since my husband had remortgaged the farm right before we married, there is a previous 1999 GreenStone Appraisal to compare it to, $400,000 plus Mineral Rights. Not surprisingly, the ex-husband Paul Ruesink used to work for GreenStone and Paul and his attorney/cousin/court officer/notary Priscilla Ruesink Jackson and their respective siblings, were already in negotiations with Savoy Energy of Traverse City for mineral rights to my home. They all signed leases with Savoy immediately after having me evicted at gunpoint, and they are pumping oil from my farm at 5285 Knight Highway, Adrian, Michigan. The Farm is part of the MacArthur-Ruesink Trust, drawn up by lawyer Dan Bruggerman, signed and Notarized by all parties concerned. More fraud, as it turns out that Paul Ruesink never put the mortgage in the name of the Trust nor did he Register it at the Lenawee Deeds in 2004 as required! Just one more instance of the Ruesink Mafia and their Minion’s Fraud and Corruption. I have however, registered the documents of the MacArthur Ruesink Trust to the Lenawee Deeds (Liber 2409, Page 0746, 8 Pages) and this “Trust” is Revocable by Mutual Agreement Only!! Attorney Dan Bruggerman never followed up and therefore I believe him to be a co-conspirator with the Ruesinks, to bilk me out of close to $1,000,000 in financial support and Insurances .
LARA does NOTHING! and closes the complaint.
~~
FRAUD BY LENAWEE COUNTY EMPLOYEES
James Hughes, Regional Administrator
Michigan Supreme Court
State Court Administrative Office-Region II
P.O. Box 30048
Lansing, Michigan 48909
(517) 373-9353
hughesj@ courts.mi.gov
Roxanne Holloway, Lenawee County Court Clerk
Martina Aranda, Clerk
425 N Main St
Adrian MI 49221-2198.
Ph: (517)264-4594. Fax: (517)264-4533
I file a Complaint against Lenawee County Clerk Roxanne Holloway and her employee Martina Aranda for holding my papers of a malpractice lawsuit against Corrupt Attorney Stan Sala for 4 weeks + 1 day, and when I got them back the were date stamped the day AFTER I filed them. (2 days before the 2 Year Statute of Limitations for filing a Legal Malpractice Lawsuit against Stan Sala .I provided Notarized Statement which included my Official Work attendence at the State Office Building in Jackson for the date they claimed I submitted my Lawsuit Complaint.
Michigan Court Rules (MCR) 1.1.1 and the Revised Judicature Act (Act 236 of 1961) Michigan Compiled Law (MCL) 600.1974 REQUIRE that the Documents must be date stamped at the time they are submitted.
Mr. Hughes 5 sentence response closing my complaint states “the court clerk has complied with court rules.”!?
(Page 4)
COMPLAINT
MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL MIKE COX/BILL SCHUETTE
PUBLIC INTEGRITY UNIT CHIEF BILL CUNNINGHAM
Detective Lt. Jaime Corona Michigan State Police Special Crimes Unit
Allison has put together over 300 pages of documentation showing the numerous disturbing violations of her Civil and Constitutional Rights, Conspiracy, Fraud and outright thief of $hundreds of thousands in Real Estate, livestock and personal property. In November 2010 Detective Corona tells Allison Assistant Attorney General Daniel Tanay is supposed to meet with Lenawee County Prosecutor Jonathon Poer about the overwhelming evidence of wrong-doing by local court, public and Ruesink family and officials . There is an election, Bill Schutte replaces Mike Cox and Allison’s inquiries and phone calls to Detective Corona and Assistant AG Tanay are not returned.
Apparently Mr. Cunningham, Assistant AG Public Integrity Unit and Mr. Bill Schutte, Michigan Attorney General feel unless a prosecution has some political advantage like getting rid of a Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway so the new Governor Rick Snyder can appoint his own party choice, there is no reason to enforce the laws of our country or state.
Eventually Allison gets a letter from Assistant AG Richard L. Cunningham saying “he’s not convinced there’s been any wrong doing. Case Closed.”
A judge confiscated two thirds of my net pay to subsidize my ex –a career woman with a graduate degree. This judge ran unopposed for re-election but still collected ample campaign contributions, mostly from attorneys.
Frank – I can do you one better. This gender biased corrupt judge confiscated over 100% of my pay to subsidize my X and her jet setting lavish lifestyle. She has an MBA from a top 20 B-school and worked in finance making as much or more than me. I received a ZERO paycheck for over a year until I was just recently fired because I was unable to pay back the upfront loan I received thru my employer. And, the X stole most of the loan ahead of time. Like the ol’ country song… At least we didn’t have a dog. She would have kicked that too.
So, I am bitter and have ZERO faith in justice and this corrupt family “circus” of a court system. There needs to be different rules and regulations put in place. That means you need to rip it up, fire everyone and start over. This is what you do in any business that fails and does so on a daily basis.
The owners (we the people) should be in charge; instead you have these clowns running these family circus courts asylums.
hi Joseph,
This message is not in response to this survey but instead a proposal.
At the core of all the issues we’re facing in Family Court (AKA Courts of Equity or, I think Arkansas still uses, Court of Chancery), are a set of arcane rules originating in English Kings law that escaped constitutional scrutiny because social change and the ensuring updates to our Constitution has been evolutionary slow. Think of the frog in the pot analogy – family law has slowly became unconstitutional as the constitution changes after being set in place by men (Founding “Fathers”).
Many incremental improvements to the Family Law statutes (and subsequent impact on court) has been thru US Supreme Court order. I suspect you know of Ron and Sherry of “Fix Family Court”. Their book lists many cases that have impacted the arcane “Common Law” rules established in the dark ages by Lord Chancery. Shockingly some state supreme court opinions only 50 yrs ago cherished the Noble English origins of the “Common Law” doctrines.
All said to make meaningful change in the family court will required substantial update of family law statutes that reduce discretion afforded Judges and will not be popular. It’s very unlikely these changes will come from our Legislature who is heavily influenced by the ABA. Instead, it will require the force and power of the US supreme court as was asserted to end segregation. They of course only review statutes if petitioned via a real court case. Getting to them is no simple matter and likely requires upwards of $200k in legal fees. For each individual, the $200k is hard to acquire and possibly more costly than settling. But collectively, spending the $200k once will have far reaching benefits. So here’s the conceptual proposal: establish a slush fund to cover appellate attorney fees for current ‘live’ cases that have potential to secure supreme court opinion to declare statutes unconstitutional and force statutory changes by legislatures. The “Troxel” case demonstrates the possible impact of this avenue. Admittable there are many administrative details in the background.
Let me know if this approach is of interest. I’m preparing my case with appeal in mind and intend to take it to at least to state supreme court. I hope it will make an substantive impact at that level. It would be hard to go beyond that level..
Cheers,
Michael
I would like to change the process into a panel with a psychologist, finical expert, sociologist, and child psychologist. Judge only know law and perceptually influenced additional information if they choose to research on their own the topics my recommendations for panel members would have.
Judges, custody medlimits, CPS workerd and guardian ad litem’s or any other court official that has the authority to dictate a person’s life should not only be voted in by the community from where they work, but should also be given annual performance reviews by a panel not court related and should have term limits.
Judges should be appointed with term limits. Their performaces should be reviewed by a panel of community and legal members.
As DivorceCorp movie shows, money from lawyers and other famiiy law practioners is used to re-elect judges who provide rulings beneficial to the contributoers.
The public has little information avaialble to use in slecting/electing judges. Judges should be appointed with term limits and reviewed by a panel of comunity and law prfession members, with no money at issue in the reviews or appointments.
Judges should be barred from practicing family law matters until FIVE years have passed from stoppping being a family law judge.
Judges should not specifically be nor necessarily attorney trained, they need to be people who have the approval and consent of the people by election to such a position. We can do no worse than elect the most wise and learned among us with a temper for objectivity beyond money and power. At this time we have an entire judiciary that is a monopoly and franchise business that goes far beyond what the independent and spirit of a court of justice is.
In every county in every state, there is a fundamental problem with who operates the judiciary in those little fiefdoms. Primarily we have a problem when even given the appearance and/or judicial canons from whatever book you derive an understanding of law. There is no provision in law to state what a judiciary can and cannot do, it states simply a suggestion that it ought not to do the things that it does that are not in character and that is an option not an obligation under the guise of efficiencies despite costing five times more to operate than the original state obligation and function. And that does not include the cost of litigation.
We have the county treasury, we have the judiciary and the federal/state government all in the same building with an attached jail, and usually a county sheriffs office very close by. Compound this with competing interests for business and we despite statutory law indicating otherwise have the recipe for a den of inequity that goes far beyond complicit behaviors driven by central command. What we do see quite often are judges elected who are unlikely to be run out of town because they are part of what to all intents and purposes is a racket and would apart from the title of purveyors of law be like any other business but with a monopoly of determining features outside of their original mandate. They in their special status have access to the factors which effect the type and composition of business they attract to their counties, who gets what or not and when and far worse than that they determine or follow policies and how they are implemented to affect the local populations who are oblivious to this little menagerie of power and one where any litigant will find a wall of demarcation that reflects all that is wrong with this nation. One where public servants determine the fate of consumers, what they can and cannot do and affect the future of consumers not citizens with no accountability and not even the decency to suggest common sense. We live in strange times.
These polls are informational and all, but if anyone is interested, this information is not reaching those who are in the system. When I ask numerous Florida Family Law Attorneys, they have never heard of the movie or this effort.