The Administrative Office of the Courts announced changes to its service that provides criminal background reports.

AOC Announces Changes

The Administrative Office of the Courts announced changes to its service that provides criminal background reports.

The following changes will be effective Jan. 19, 2010:
– There will be a standard fee of $15 for all criminal background reports;
– A new automated program, AOCFastCheck, will allow the public to request and receive reports online;
– There will be only three ways to request records online, by drive-thru service in Frankfort and by mail.

The increase from $10 to $15 will be the first fee increase the AOC has implemented since 2003. At $15, the fee is still less than the amount charged by several other states for background reports.

The AOC Records Unit processes approximately 950,000 criminal record reports each year. The reports are produced from data stored in CourtNet, the statewide database used by the Kentucky Court of Justice to collect information from the court case management system in each county. About 60 percent of those reports are provided free to schools and government agencies. Reports to schools and government agencies will not be affected by the fee increase and will continue to be provided free of charge.

In an effort to more quickly fill requests for criminal record reports, the AOC will make AOCFastCheck, a new automated online system, available to anyone who wants to become a registered user. This new service begins Jan. 19.

AOCFastCheck represents a huge technological leap in our ability to meet the demand for criminal record reports, said Jason Cloyd, manager of the AOC Division of Records and Statistics. The limitations of our manual system have made it challenging to respond to the growing volume of record requests in a timely way.

The AOC first offered AOCFastCheck to Kentucky schools in August 2009 as a way to quickly turn around the thousands of criminal record reports requested annually for school personnel and volunteers. Cloyd said that the test run of AOCFastCheck proved to be a great success and he looks forward to providing this online option to the public.

The AOC hosts AOCFastCheck on a secure server. To establish a free account beginning Jan. 19, individuals can visit www.courts.ky.gov and click on Obtain a Criminal Background Report under Helpful Links. Once users have an account, they can submit a request at any time and be notified by e-mail when the criminal record report is available. They log onto the same account to submit requests, track the progress of requests and receive reports. AOCFastCheck users pay online per request using certain credit and debit cards or an electronic check.

For more information, call the AOC Records Unit at 800-928-6381 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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From The Wall Street Journal Market Watch: “Suggested retail price for an Identigene DNA Paternity Test Collection Kit is $29.99. The Walgreens.com price is the same, plus shipping. The laboratory and processing fee for the personal test is $119. The laboratory and processing fee for test results for legal proceedings is $319.”

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The story is online here. Some quotes: Last week, in a decision that underscores the tense relationship between science and law, a divided Kentucky Supreme Court told Rhoades that he could not press his paternity claim, no matter what evidence of fatherhood he might have, because J.N.R. was, and remains, a married woman. When it comes to defining fatherhood in the Bluegrass State, where Ricketts and her husband now live, the marital “I do” mean a lot more than DNA.

The report continues, But unlike the past, such allegations these days are often backed by science, introducing certainty where none before existed. As of a result, the prohibition on third-party challenges to paternity has begun to weaken. By 2000, at least 33 states had adopted rules that allowed challenges by fathers with genetic proof of their paternity, usually restricting such efforts to the first two years of a child’s life. The advent of DNA testing has tread a similarly disruptive course in other areas of law, including criminal cases where exonerations once thought impossible are becoming routine. A few states have even begun allowing ex-husbands to present DNA evidence that they were duped by cheating spouses to avoid child support obligations.

What’s next? Rhoades said he plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on constitutional grounds. But he faces long odds there, given that the high court has already ruled once, in 1989, on the same issue, upholding California’s explicit bar against paternity challenges like his. That decision too was divided and contentious. The biological father in that case did not get to see his daughter till she had turned 21. “Well, obviously I am not going to give up and say, ‘Oh well I lost,'” Rhoades says. “I believe I have a fundamental right to be in my son’s life.” The trouble is: nature’s law isn’t the law of the land.

The post Time Magazine Reports Ky Bio-Dad Decision And Putative Father’s Plan To Go To U.S. Supreme Court appeared first on Goldberg Simpson - Family Law Group.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall as the Kentucky Supreme Court deliberated this four to three decision which we reported on yesterday here. I am unaware of another family court case creating such a split among the justices. The 47 pages reveal highly charged emotions. The Opinion of the Court by Justice Minton and joined by Justice Lambert appears to try to take the emotion out of the debate but splits hairs to reach the result. Justice Abramson’s dissent in which Justice Schroder joined is passionate and I think well reasoned. If a child carries the DNA of a man other than the husband, it is common sense that the child is not born of the marriage. The concurring Opinion by Justice Cunningham fumes about the morality of it all, interjects words like “interloper” (but declines to judge the wife’s infidelity), and I wonder how his opinion would have been written if the husband and wife were divorcing rather than reconciled. His regret over the abolition of the tort of alienation of affections leaving the “innocent victim of betrayal” without “recourse against the interloping adulterer” is telling. My first jury trial 25 years ago was an alienation of affections case and I can tell you Kentucky abolished that tort none too soon.

The legislature could deal with this result by adoption of the Uniform Parentage Act, bringing Kentucky into the mainstream of states across the country. This act has been endorsed by both the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and the American Bar Association.

In the absence of similar legislation I would not be surprised to see perfected constitutional arguments raised, perhaps yet in this case. The Kentucky Supreme Court expressly declined to rule on the due process and equal protection arguments because they were not procedurally addressed in the trial court. By the way the opinion of the court was written I wonder if Justice Minton might be a “swing vote” on this issue. Even had he not announced his resignation, unless his thinking changed, I would not have expected Chief Justice Lambert to join ranks with the dissenters because of his comment in another case that some things should just be kept secret. Maybe this case was the last straw?

Andrew Wolfson reports in today’s Courier Journal Court Rejects Paternity Rights For Man In Affair, online here. I didn’t see a peep about it in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The bio-dad left the following comment yesterday, which I have edited slightly to remove certain allegations that I am unable to verify: As the REAL father, I’d like to say that today is a very sad day for everyone who believes truth and honesty hold value. It was through deception, a lengthy extra-marital affair, that my son was conceived and now Kentucky’s highest court believes such deception should not end. I long ago accepted that having a 1 1/2 year affair with Julia Ricketts was wrong but this decision absconds her from any responsibility. I believe this ruling if not overturned will have a detrimental effect upon the rights of biological fathers in Kentucky. Essentially, my rights as a biological father have been terminated without a day in court. This puts absolute power in the hands of mothers.

The post The Morning After Bio-Dads Lose Big In Kentucky appeared first on Goldberg Simpson - Family Law Group.

All Jefferson County Court dockets except the Family Court Emergency Docket are cancelled on Friday, April 25, 2008 so that the judges can attend Judge Montano’s funeral at 11:00 a.m. The Emergency Docket for Family Court, all divisions, will be held in Family Court 8 at 1:00 p.m. A senior judge from out of county will be covering that docket.

Through her family law private practice and during her tenure as a Jefferson County Family Court judge, most Louisville family law attorneys knew and loved Judge Kathleen Voor Montano. Her death at age 46 is heartbreaking.

All Jefferson County Court dockets except the Family Court Emergency Docket are cancelled on Friday, April 25, 2008 so that the judges can attend Judge Montano’s funeral at 11:00 a.m. The Emergency Docket for Family Court, all divisions, will be held in Family Court 8 at 1:00 p.m. A senior judge from out of county will be covering that docket.

Judicial funerals in this state are respectful pagentries honoring judicial service with all living past and present judges, in black robes, filing in together. Following Justice McAnulty’s funeral just a few months ago, we are not ready for another, especially not for a youthful jurist with such promise.

The post Judge Montano’s Passing; Courts Closed On Friday appeared first on Goldberg Simpson - Family Law Group.

Front page news in the Courier-Journal today, Atheist father sues to keep son out of St. Xavier High School. As Sandra Ragland represents mom, I’ll stay mum on this blog.

The post Father Who Claims To Be Atheist Sues To Keep Son Out Of St. Xavier High School appeared first on Goldberg Simpson - Family Law Group.

Thanks to Indiana Law Blog for spotting and posting HUSBAND POSTS ABOUT PENDING DIVORCE IN BLOG, COURT ORDERS POSTING REMOVED. Check it out.

The post Court Orders Blog Post By Divorce Litigant Removed appeared first on Goldberg Simpson - Family Law Group.