JUDICIAL PAY RAISE CLEARS THE HOUSE
March 7, 2012 § Leave a comment
83-37. Needed 78 to pass. Now on to the Senate.
Thanks and congrats to all who were involved in and supported this effort.
SOME PENDING SENATE BILLS YOU MIGHT WANT TO WATCH
March 7, 2012 § 1 Comment
Here are some bills pending in the Mississippi Senate that might affect your chancery practice:
SB 2031. Gaming winnings may be intercepted for child support obligation.
SB 2037. Allows for redaction of Social Security numbers in recorded documents.
SB 2046. Requires disclosure in real estate transactions if meth production took place on the property.
SB 2087. Mandatory reporting of child abuse.
SB 2664. Amends the statute providing for parental consent to abortion to include intellectually disabled persons, and makes some other changes.
SB 2677. Adverse possessor must reimburse the other party for property and other taxes paid.
SB 2806. Changes and clarifies the rules for a landowner’s duty to a trespasser or licensee.
SB 2807 and SB 2708. How and when a landlord may dispose of abandoned personal property.
SB 2853. Allows both Circuit Court and County Court to adjudicate custody in paternity actions. Is this one more step toward the disappearance of chancery courts?
SB 2856. Court may restrict visitation of person convicted of violent crime.
Not included are bills that I considered to duplicate other senate bills or pending House bills.
SOME PENDING HOUSE BILLS YOU MIGHT WANT TO WATCH
March 6, 2012 § 5 Comments
Some bills pending in the Mississippi House of Representatives may affect your practice of law in chancery court. Here are some selected bills you might want to follow:
HB 2. Prohibits Mississippi courts from applying foreign law when the result would be a ” … violation of a right guaranteed by the Constitution of this state or of the United States, including, but not limited to, due process, freedom of religion, speech, or press, and any right of privacy or marriage as specifically defined by the Constitution of this state.”
HB 128. Clarifies the duty of a sex offender to notify any volunteer organization in which he or she is involved.
HB 144. The interest rate on judgments shall be ” … at a per annum rate equal to the discount rate at the Federal Reserve Bank in the Federal Reserve district in which the court is located, beginning from a date determined by the judge hearing the complaint to be fair but in no event before the filing of the complaint.”
HB 178. Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act.
HB 180. Allows postnuptial agreements. This bill is one to watch. It would change the ground rules for postnuptials, and could have a big impact on the way property settlement agreements are enforced in irreconcilable differences divorces that become contested.
HB 191. Enacts the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Procedeedings Jurisdiction Act, which clarifies jurisdiction between states in guardianships and adult guardianships, much as the UCCJEA did for child custody.
HB 218. Requires random drug screening for all public school students in grades 6-12.
HB 248. Social Security numbers no longer required to record deeds.
HB 299. Unlawful to use DNA test results for any discriminatory purpose.
HB 300. Adds irreconcilable differences as a thirteenth ground to be granted ” … upon proof of any behavior, conduct, habit or demeanor engaged in or assumed by the offending party which substantially impairs the joint purposes of the marriage or which has rendered future cohabitation between the parties unlikely.”
HB 303. Increases the values of some exempt property.
HB 304. Adjusted gross income for child support over $50,000 would be presumptively subject to the guidelines, requiring findings to make it not so.
HB 313. Adds a third category of grandparents entitled to an award of grandparent visitation rights: whenever it is in the child’s best interest.
HB 320. Allows covenant in a deed not to sell to registered sex offenders.
HB 321. Purchaser at a tax sale can not be held civilly liable for environmental or other conditions on the property pre-existing the sale.
HB 354. Further restrictions on residence of registered sex offenders, contact with victims, and more.
HB 459. Creates a state-wide task force to study ways to reduce child abuse. No members of the judiciary are invited to participate.
HB 475. Amends MCA § 93-5-23 to provide that “The court shall order a noncustodial parent to pay at least one-half (1/2) of the reasonable cost of child care expenses in addition to child support obligations.” This is a major change.
HB 484. Judicial and DA pay raise, 2012 version. Please ask your legislator to vote in favor. There will be no tax increase to fund it; court costs will pay for it.
HB 491. Amends the definition of vulnerable persons to include persons under 10 years of age.
HB 550. Prohibits concealed weapons in any county-owned facility. If this passes, how will it affect the law enacted last year that specifically allowed carrying of firearms into court houses?
HB 562. In all civil actions, the losing plaintiff is liable for the defendant’s attorney’s fees and expenses. No mention of the losing defendant being liable for the plaintiff’s fees.
HB 668. Allows partisan judicial elections. A perennial bill.
HB 698. Similar to HB 2, but specifically references Sharia law.
HB 739. Court proceedings to be electronically recorded.
HB 817. Loser pays attorney’s fees in adverse possession cases.
HB 858. Increases from $50,000 to $100,000 adjusted gross income the presumption that the child support guidelines are inapplicable.
HB 886. Changes the rescission limit for acknowledgement of paternity to one year.
HB 949. Clarifies the duties of the guardian ad litem.
HB 963. An adopted person over the age of 18 may be provided the identity of the biological father.
HB 1110. Revises certain provisons pertaining to durable powers of attorney.
HB 1114. The Human Embryos Act and Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act.
HB 1172. Permits an injunction to prevent withholding of nutrition to a disabled person.
HB 1210. Seized drug money subject to child support obligations.
HB 1234. Judicial salaries would be tied to the southeastern average, and adjusted periodically accordingly.
HB 1254. Repeals adverse possession entirely.
HB 1258. Nonlegal custodian may authorize medical and educational expenditures upon presentation of an affidavit.
HB 1268. Makes several significant changes to the adoption statutes, including a provision that an attorney representing an adoption agency must complete training.
HB 1269. Makes it a crime to use a child’s Social Security number on a tax return without authorization. Maybe this will stop the chronically recurring problem of duelling claims of minors as dependents by ex-spouses.
HB 1272. Arbitration clauses between a seller and provider and a citizen of Mississippi are non-binding.
HB 1273. A contract must be printed in 10-point font or greater in order to be enforceable.
HB 1324. This is one at which you might want to take a close look. It changes notice representation rules in estates, guardianships and trusts, and defines what is necessary to bind interested persons and wards.
HB 1329. Clarifies the requirements that must be met for an engineer to qualify as an expert witness.
HB 1335 and HB 1337. Chancery court may order commitment of person who has a propensity to be a sex offender.
HB 1341. If the court requires electronic filing, a computer and scanner must be provided at the court house.
HB 1385. Authorizes Covenant Marriage, in which the parties contract that there will be no divorce between them except on the grounds of adultery or desertion.
HB 1387. Judicial candidate must be a qualified elector in his or her district.
HB 1394. Judicial pay is tied to the pay of the US Marshal.
HB 1421. Adds littoral landowners to the statute defining the rights and obligations of riparian landowners, and adds some restrictions.
HB 1481. Revises the requirements for informed consent to abortion.
Senate bills in another post.
Q & A WITH JUDGE BISE
March 1, 2012 § Leave a comment
Chancellor Carter Bise serves the 8th Chancery Court District (Hancock, Harrison and Stone Counties). Here is the Q&A that he shared with 12CCDM:
Q: Tell us some of your personal preferences that lawyers from outside your district need to know before they come before you.
A: In this district, we have what is referred to as “Motion Day” but there is no court reporter. Out of district attorneys need to check when setting a motion to make sure that if they want a record, that they set the matter when I have a regular docket.
Be familiar with the filing system and make sure that I have either the file or copies of the pertinent documents that I need for the case.
Q: What are the three attributes that you would consider to set the good lawyers apart from the bad ones?
A: Preparation; professionalism; courtesy.
Q: What is the main thing lawyers should know to avoid doing in your court room during a trial?
A: Histrionics. I try to maintain my courtroom as being purely professional. There is no jury to impress. Emotions are generally heightened for the parties/witnesses without any drama being added to the mix.
Q: What part of your job do you enjoy the most?
A: Uncontested adoptions; research.
Q: What part of your job do you enjoy the least?
A: Ex parte Rule 65 matters.
Q: What is your pet peeve as a judge?
A: When I ask for proposed findings and conclusions, and the attorney(s) do a poor job of providing such.
Q: Tell us a funny story about something that happened in your court room.
A: My first day on the bench, I needed assistance from a deputy clerk. I didn’t notice that there were two call buttons. I hit the one button of which I was aware, and within a few seconds, there were armed deputies at my doors.
Q: Cell phone ringing during a trial: death penalty, stern look, dismay, or no reaction?
A: I ask my bailiff to take the phone for safe-keeping.
Q: Lawyer tells you, “That’s not how we do it back in ________ County.” Discuss.
A: Occasionally I will ask how they do do that in Hazard County. It doesn’t offend me, as that is that articular attorney’s comfort zone. I can always learn.
Q: Share your innermost thoughts and feelings about MRCP 81.
A: Obviously, I don’t know anything about MRCP 81.
Q: Tell us your favorite quote.
A: I have ties:
— Favorite scriptural quotes: Isaiah 10.1: “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees . . ..”
— And Micah 6:8: “What does the Lord require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
— Proverbs 21:9 (also found at 25:24): “Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.” (My wife tells me that was obviously not written by any of Solomon’s partners, and that we should hear what they have to say.)
Q: Tell us your favorite court room movie.
A: Anatomy of a Murder.
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