Committee accepts three subcommittee reports, urges clearer notice and recommends more judicial support; final report delayed to next week

CONCORD — The Special Committee on the Family Division of the Circuit Court on Tuesday unanimously accepted three subcommittee reports and debated how to improve notice, remedies and staffing for family cases.

Chairman Pearson opened the committee and presented a report from the subcommittee on court communication, which was prompted by a case in which a litigant said she did not receive notice of a motion. Attorney Erin Cregan, general counsel for the court system, told the committee the judiciary has begun a multi-court review and completed recent training for judges and clerks using the case as a study. "We did a review of all of the courts," Cregan said, adding the circuit-court review is ongoing and a study of possible rule changes, including one to ensure delivery of newly filed motions, is expected to take about three months.

The committee discussed a pilot program the Supreme Court has begun to send direct text messages with case information; Cregan said a Rockingham County pilot for text-message notifications in criminal cases may expand to other case types if successful.

In a second report, Representative Lynn, who chaired the…