Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
(a) General. There shall be established
for all proceedings heard in the Family Court an individual assignment system
which provides for the continuous supervision of each proceeding by a single
judge or, where appropriate, a single support magistrate. For the purposes of
this Part, the word judge shall include a support magistrate, where
appropriate. Except as otherwise may be authorized by the Chief Administrator
or by these rules, every proceeding shall be assigned and heard pursuant to the
individual assignment system.
(b) Assignments. Proceedings shall be
assigned to a judge of the court upon the filing with the court of the first
document in the case. Assignments shall be made by the clerk of the court
pursuant to a method of random selection authorized by the Chief Administrator.
The judge thereby assigned shall be known as the "assigned judge" with respect
to that matter and, except as otherwise provided in subdivision (c) of this
section or by law, shall conduct all further proceedings therein.
(c) Exceptions.
(1) Where the requirements of
matters already assigned to a judge are such as to limit the ability of the
judge to handle additional cases, the Chief Administrator may authorize that
new assignments to the judge be suspended until the judge is able to handle
additional cases.
(2)
The Chief Administrator may authorize the establishment in any court of special
categories of proceedings for assignment to judges specially assigned to hear
such proceedings. Where more than one judge is specially assigned to hear a
particular category of proceeding, the assignment of such proceedings to the
judges so assigned shall be at random.
(3) Matters requiring immediate
disposition may be assigned to a judge designated to hear such matters when the
assigned judge is not available.
(4) The Chief Administrator may authorize
the transfer of any proceeding and any matter relating to a proceeding from one
judge to another in accordance with the needs of the court.
(5) Assignment of cases to
judges pursuant to this section shall be consistent with section
205.27 of this Part.
(6) Multiple proceedings
involving members of the same family shall be assigned to be heard by a single
judge to the extent feasible and appropriate, including, but not limited to,
child protective, foster care placement, family offense and custody
proceedings.
(7) Where
a child is under the jurisdiction of the Family Court as a result of a
placement in foster care pursuant to article 10 or 10A of the Family Court Act
or section
358-a of
the Social Services Law, a judicial surrender, or a petition for the
termination of parental rights, approval of an extra-judicial surrender or
adoption of the child, shall be assigned, wherever practicable, to the Family
Court judge who last presided over the child's proceeding.
