Several California lawmakers and advocacy groups want to reform our family courts. They cite problems like "inconsistent behavior," the use of non-scientific theories, such as "parental alienation syndrome," and the failure to follow "the legal principals of accepted evidence." Dealing with child abuse has also been problematic. In some counties, children have been placed in homes with abusers and people with criminal records, apparently because child custody evaluators are not required to have a high level of training.
In other words, the reformers want family courts to be consistent and predictable, they want those courts to rely only on evidence that's admissible under the same rules that apply in other courts, and they want nonjudicial court staff to have the level of training we would expect from people who are, in essence, making important decisions about the lives of children and families. They also want whistleblower protection for family court employees. These reforms would probably be helpful. But a level of fairness and predictability that satisfies everyone may not be possible.
Family courts exist in a strange and difficult realm of law. People involved in families have their own expectations for how their family relationships are supposed to work, and what kinds of obligations will arise from them, while the laws that apply to those relationships are typically based on the public policy goals expressed by the Legislature. Some people, like spouses, enter family relationships voluntarily, but others, like children, have no choice. There are ways for people to opt out of the legislated rules for some things (like the community property system), but no way to opt out of others (like the duty to pay child support). And even when opting out is possible, as with the community property system, most people don't know how, and the law makes it difficult to succeed even if they do know how.
In short, the field of family law is like a big battle between our most basic human impulses—love, sex, companionship—and one of the most sophisticated methods of organizing and controlling a population that has ever been devised—legislation. Right in the middle of that battlefield, making things extraordinarily difficult, is our ability to create new people who never got to decide on their circumstances. Almost everyone agrees that parents are not the omnipotent rulers of their children's lives, but finding the boundary between the rights of parents and the rights of children can be exceedingly difficult.
No one should be surprised that family courts, who have to sort out all those people and their problems and try to be fair, are beset with problems like inconsistency and unpredictability. In recent decades, we have tried to improve the system by making it less adversarial and more therapeutic. But a lot of people are still not happy with family courts, and probably never will be. Our system can be especially frustrating for attorneys because we want to see predictability and patterns, things that will help us advise our clients: If you do this, then that will happen. Sometimes, we just can't do that. Or what we think is good advice turns out to be not-so-good advice. And then nobody is happy.
But before you start to worry about the court, remember that you still have control of your own life. You can make good decisions for yourself and for your children, you can work on your communication skills and try to make agreements with your ex-spouse, or others involved in your situation. Some problems will always need to be solved by judges, but many of the most complicated and emotionally difficult problems can be addressed by the people who are dealing with them directly.
If you are facing the prospect of going to family court, you should remember that judges cannot—and probably don't want to—solve all your problems. Talk to your attorney and see if you can get to the bottom of things. Attorneys are very good at examining your problems from arm's length, without the emotional confusion you might feel, and helping you figure out that one or two things is really causing the whole blow-up that you're experiencing. Address those things, and the rest of the problems will often solve themselves, or at least seem much more manageable.
Finally, as usual, remember that nothing I write here is intended as legal advice for you, and it should not be taken as legal advice for you. Your situation is unique and you should speak to a local attorney if you have a family law issue. If you would like to speak to me, please visit the website for my firm. There you can contact my office and set up a consultation.